A Different Sort of Hero Support
by LIONKATE
Summary: Every year the senior heroes are paired off with a different senior sidekick every month. Emmeline Garwin does not approve of Principal Power's pairings, for more than one reason. Warren Peace would have to agree with her on this one. WarrenOC
1. Chapter 1

**A Different Sort of Hero Support**

I own nothing save the clothes on my back, and I think I may have borrowed this shirt. Yes, most certainly did. So, clearly I don't own anything Sky High related.

**Chapter 1-**

The soft clicking of the keys on her keyboard was the only sound in the house, save the static whirring of the fan above her. Every morning began something like this. She would wake up too early, the rest of the house would be fast asleep, and sit at her desk, the blue light from her monitor illuminating her face until the sun's light reached her window. Somewhere outside birds had begun chirping and a car drove by, most likely Mr. Aarons coming home from his graveyard shift at the hospital. It was these early mornings that she relished above all else.

Her damp dark hair had begun curling at the ends, the aqua blue towel lying somewhere on her bed while she typed away. The 'T' key on her keyboard wobbled dangerously and she knew that soon enough she would have to get it fixed. A few rooms down an alarm buzzed into life and her brother groaned as he tried to find the snooze button. She glanced over to the little white numbers at the bottom of her screen out of habit, she knew what time it was, her brother's alarm always went off at 7:30. With a sigh as she heard his alarm go off again she finalized her post and turned off her monitor.

Downstairs her father was sitting at the kitchen table, his usual blue mug of coffee in his hand as he watched the news. He looked up at her when she came through the archway. "Mornin', darling." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and turned back to the WXY NEWS. She made her way over to the counter to pour herself a cup of coffee, the cold ceramic of her gray smiley face mug felt nice in comparison with the warm handle of the coffee pot. She heard her dad shift in his seat. "Maxville had another attack today, giant robot this time." She scoffed.

"Hey, how often do giant robots actually work?" she asked him, sitting down across the table, glancing over to the TV just in time to see Jetstream fly out of the picture. She didn't get an answer, just a laugh and a shake of his head. She could hear her brother moving around upstairs, probably muttering nonsensical things to himself until he got in the shower. Her mother was probably also waking up just now. The house phone rang, right on time, and she stood up to get it, nestling it between her shoulder and ear while she poured herself a bowl of cereal. "What's going on?" she asked into the receiver, like she did every morning.

_"Nothing much, I'm just getting my stuff together, then I'll be right over."_

She nodded, forgetting she couldn't be seen over the phone, and closed the cereal box. "Deal. Don't forget, we still have to go and make sure Mags wakes up on time." She set the bowl down on the cream tablecloth and moved to get the milk from the fridge. "She's been late way too many times." Upstairs something fell and broke, loudly. Her father and her looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Hey, Lijah just broke something, I'll see you later." With a quick bye she set the phone down and jogged over to the stairs.

"Don't worry, Emm, I fixed it." Her brother said the moment he saw her. She looked skeptically between him and the chest of drawers he was pushing back against the wall. She caught a drawer that was sliding out and helped him steady it until it was back in its rightful place. "Thanks."

Emmeline shook her head. "What were you trying to do this time?"

He looked sheepishly over at her, pulling a gray shirt over his head. "I was just trying to open one of the drawers. I wanted my shirt." He moved past her to _manually_ open his sock drawer and pulled out a pair of gray socks. She laid on his bed, propping his pillows against the headboard, while he pulled his socks and shoes on.

"Why don't you ever practice with something small?" Elijah just shrugged and smiled sheepishly again. Considering what little control he had over his telekinesis, he should have practiced with pens or shirts, not drawers attached to very heavy wooden chests. Downstairs the front door opened and they heard their father greeting someone. "That'll be Dan." She said as she stood up. "Hurry up, or we're leaving you."

Emm left his room and moved down to the next door, her own room. She grabbed the worn gray backpack off her chair and gave the room one last look over to make sure she had everything. Satisfied, she closed the door and went downstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. In the kitchen, eating her cereal was Dan, his light blue eyes shining as he saw her. "Don't give me that look," he began, "I just had one spoonful, the rest is still here." He slid the bowl over to her original seat and got up to get a glass of water.

She made quick work of her cereal while Dan sat watching the WXY NEWS with her father and Elijah finished getting ready upstairs. She heard her brother before she saw him, his hurried steps were loud on their stairs, Elijah had never been a light walker. He slid into the kitchen with a quick hello to Dan and his dad before opening the pantry and pulling out a granola bar and a bottle of water.

He turned to look at them expectantly. "Well, let's go, we're going to be late." Had it been a year ago Emm and Dan might have been annoyed that he was the last to come down and the first to demand they leave, but this had been their exact routine for the past year, since Elijah had started at Sky High. They all filed out of the house with backwards waves to Mr. Garwin and headed down the street. In a matter of minutes they'd reached a pretty two-story yellow house, the shiny black numbers next to the door read 159.

They let themselves in and greeted the short red-haired woman they knew as Ma Rollings. In a line they all trudged up the stairs and through a butter yellow door and the curtain of multi-colored beads that followed. Somewhere under a bundle of dark purple blankets and comforters a head of red and brown hair poked out. They would spend the next few minutes trying to get the owner of said red and brown hair out of bed. Eventually Mags, as Maggie Rollings preferred to be called, would get up, grumbling and shuffle into the bathroom to get ready. Downstairs they would sit around with Ma Rollings and drink pomegranate juice while they waited.

Ten minutes later they were standing at the bus stop, Maggie grumbling still, Elijah levitating a blade of grass, Dan and Emm rolling their eyes. Every morning, the same thing, their routine never really changed, even after summer break. Ever since Dan, Maggie, and Emm had started Sky High four years ago, they had had more or less the same morning each time. When Elijah joined them the year before, not much changed.

* * *

"Seniors, don't forget to report to the gym after lunch for your first pairings." The cafeteria was buzzing with excited chatter and speculations. Today, for the first time, the seniors would be paired off, hero with sidekick, so the faculty could get a feel over who would be best paired at graduation as the permanent Hero-Sidekick duo. Heroes were a mixed bunch of excitement and annoyance that they would need a sidekick. Sidekicks were mixed as well, but with the added fear that some held.

Emm rolled her eyes, something she did quite often, and took another bite of her club sandwich. Dan caught the look on her face and smiled. "Oh, come on now. Maybe one of you will get paired with me. Eventually it has to happen." Emm made a derisive snorting noise but kept eating.

"I really hope we do get paired together." Maggie began, her lunch untouched due to nervousness. "I mean, how am I supposed to help any other super with my astounding ability to understand languages?" They all laughed a little at her self-deprecating comment but said nothing otherwise. It was true. Dan and Elijah were heroes, Emm and Maggie had been relegated to hero-support, but she had no use in a fight. Emm, at least, could hold her own in a fist fight.

Eventually lunch had to end and they all filed out of the cafeteria, some antsy and excited, others dreading arriving at the gym like never before. Emm watched idly as Dan tried to reassure Maggie that no matter whom she was paired with she would be alright while she thought over the heroes she could have been placed with. She was roughly jostled when someone pushed past her shoulder. She watched the leather-clad shoulder move past without even a look. Dan gave her a look, she ignored it.

"Shit, Peace. 'Excuse me' isn't that hard to say you know." A few of the other students looked back at them, wondering how long she had to live, most had just stopped caring if Garwin and Peace got into another argument. Warren didn't turn around, just shook his head and kept walking. "Asshole." She said loud enough for him to hear. Dan shook his own head and grabbed her arm to keep her walking.

When they'd all found a seat in the gym the comet better known as Principal Powers drew their attention to the podium she was standing at. "Welcome, seniors of Sky High. As you all know, at the end of this year every hero shall be paired up with a member of the hero-support class. What we, the faculty, don't know, however, is who would be best suited together." She looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention. "So, for the next few months, until you graduate, you will be paired up with different students of the opposite class so that we can better assess who should be permanently paired off. Each month your partner will change, and each month you will have small tasks assigned so that you can both get to know each other better." All the students looked awkwardly between on another.

"So, without further delay, let's begin." Principal Powers seemed to have a list in front of her, in alphabetical order, of all the pairings. One by one student's names were called. Their reactions were relieved sometimes, other times they didn't know who the other person was, and a few times they were honestly upset. Emm had swung her arm around Maggie to comfort her in a small way, Dan still assuring her.

"Emmeline Garwin," Her head shot up, Maggie's and Dan's following. "And Warren Peace."

The following "Shit!" that echoed through the gym made Principal Powers look at her pointedly. Emm looked as though she wanted to kill herself. Warren hadn't even looked up but she knew he couldn't be happy about it either. A few snickers circled the room and she was upset to find they were also coming from Dan and Maggie. "Traitors." She whispered harshly.

Until Dan's name was called she paid no attention to anything, just sulked in her seat. "Daniel Patterson." The three of them looked up, each hoping the next words would be 'Maggie Rollings'. They weren't. "Marcus Mathews." They each looked a little deflated. Marcus was a nice boy, capable of talking to birds, but he wasn't Maggie. She looked more nervous now than ever and the two of them had to try and silently calm her down. Soon enough "Maggie Rollings," was announced.

All of them were on edge, anxiously waiting to know who would be paired with the sensitive multi-lingual girl they liked to call Mags. "Andrew Thompson." Emm would have let out a louder 'Shit', but she didn't want to scare Maggie, or land herself a detention. Andrew Thompson, while handsome and able to create a thick metal like covering over his body, was an absolute asshole. At least, in Emm's opinion. Emm was not fond of Andrew's to begin with, but this boy was cocky and self-assured and an all around _asshole_. All in all, Emm couldn't say she was happy with Principal Powers and her stupid pairings.

It was clear to anyone with half a brain that, as they left the gym, Emmeline Garwin was in a foul mood. Her friends from hero-support did their best to avoid her while Dan and Maggie followed behind. They were to go to the courtyard and meet up with their partners before returning to class to receive further instruction. Emm had no intention of meeting with Warren, they both knew each other. No, she wanted to go with Maggie to meet Mr. Thompson. Dan, it seemed, had the same idea.

Andrew wasted no time in finding them, strutting up in his usual cocky manner, his light brown hair falling into his green eyes. He was a looker, and he knew it, so did the girls he had previously dated. "Maggie, right?" He said, ignoring Emm and Dan as they stood to either side of her. Emm would have stayed by her side throughout their entire meeting, but Maggie demanded that she go meet Warren. She gave Dan a look and they both left reluctantly, Dan going to find Marcus, Emm going to find a spot she could keep an eye on them from.

She sighed and shook her head as she took a seat on the school steps; this was going to be a long year.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-**

"Okay, let's make this as simple and painless as possible." Emm said and she slid her tray onto the table. Warren looked up from his book with a bored expression on his face. Emm took it as a sign to continue talking. "We don't ever talk, unless it's to argue, so we're not exactly about to become the best of friends or anything." She was trying to settle everything down with him before his friends joined him at the table. "But, we do have to do this."

After their courtyard mix'n'mingle yesterday they had returned to their classes to learn that, apart from attending various little events with their partner, they would have to write a short essay on them and their time as partners. Emm didn't mind the essay much, she could have a fair bit of fun with what was written in the essay, it was spending time with Warren Peace that bothered her. Not that she had anything against Warren, they just didn't get on well. There was also the fact that she was still upset at Maggie and Andrew's pairing.

"And I'm not about to fail, so if you don't cooperate, I'll have to stalk you." As she said this another tray joined hers, followed by a few others, signifying that his friends had joined them.

"Why are you stalking Warren?" Will Stronghold asked. She turned her head to look at the odd group that had somehow become Warren Peace's friends. She still remembered the day they'd all but destroyed the cafeteria, how funny that now the son of the Commander and the son of Baron Battle were best friends. The fates had a passion for irony, it seemed.

"I'm his sidekick for the month, hooray me." She could have sounded a little more enthusiastic, but no doubt they had seen her argue with him, they couldn't be surprised. Warren still hadn't answered her and she could see Dan and Mags waiting for her at another table while Elijah got his lunch. "Come on, Peace, I'd actually like to go see my friends, so make up your mind; are we going to do this the easy way, or do I have to stalk you?" She heard him sigh.

"If it will get you to go away," he began, setting his book aside for the moment, "Meet me at the Paper Lantern at nine." With that he considered the conversation over. It was her turn to sigh.

"Whatever, Peace, you bail on me and I'll have your head." She picked up her tray and left him to be brooding, angry Warren Peace with his little friends. When she reached her own table Elijah was already sitting and they were all looking at her expectantly. "I have to meet him at the Paper Lantern at nine." Dan and Maggie nodded and continued to eat. So far, they thought, so good; they had yet to actually have an argument.

Elijah rolled her the apple he'd picked up and she slid over the pudding cup. "Nine's a little late for dinner isn't it?" He asked as he peeled back the cover. She had thought of it, but really, she just wanted to get it all done. She would eat earlier; she didn't really care if Peace ate dinner at midnight, or if he was eating at all.

"He works there." Maggie piped in. The three of them stopped and looked at her curiously.

"And you know this why?" Emm raised an eyebrow at her friend, apple forgotten for the moment. It was bad enough that she had to worry about Andrew Thompson being with Maggie, if she was hanging out with Warren Peace to boot, her head would have exploded. Warren had to be better than Thompson, though, Emm had no problem admitting that. She couldn't stand Thompson.

Maggie blushed, which didn't mean much because she blushed most of the time over anything. "I've gone there a few time with Mum, he's always there." That was no surprise; Ma Rollings was a big fan of Chinese food. Each of them showed that they accepted her answer in their own way and went back to eating.

Emm wondered why she'd never seen him; she had been to the Lantern before. It didn't bother her much. All the talk of Chinese food had made her hungrier than she already was and she quickly unwrapped her sandwich. In her mind, Warren Peace and she would only have to associate for a month, after that, she would switch partners, hopefully to someone easier to deal with.

* * *

The Paper Lantern was apparently not the most popular place at nine. According to Maggie the place was buzzing from seven to eight, but at nine Emm could see very few people at the Lantern. She shrugged her bag higher on her shoulder and moved to sit at a booth.

A waitress approached her almost immediately and asked her what she wanted to drink. She settled with a coke and asked if Warren was there. She rolled her eyes and nodded, which left Emm wondering if Warren often received female guests at the Lantern. It sounded more likely that a few fan girls would come and hope he'd be their waiter, after that whole deal with Royal Pain a few years back girls had taken to admiring Warren; you know, now that they weren't afraid he was going to be a crazed villain like his daddy. It was Emm's turn to roll her eyes at the thought.

A hand, which she could tell did not belong to her waitress, set a coke down in front of her. She followed the hand, immediately recognizing the flame tattoos, up to his face. "Thanks." She muttered.

He sat down across from her and sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rolled his neck, showing he'd had a long day. "So," He began, looking at her finally, "You want anything to eat?"

Emm had eaten dinner earlier with her family, but she was a big fan of food, and she wasn't going to just sit in a restaurant and not eat. "I was just going to get some Crab Rangoon, really." He raised an eyebrow at her. "I ate earlier."

He turned to look at the kitchen and shouted something intelligible to her waitress, who had been standing by the door. Suddenly Emm wished she had Maggie's power and could understand him. She'd had no idea that Warren could speak Chinese, and Maggie certainly wouldn't have noticed, it would have sounded just like English to her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, I'm impressed. Unless, you know, you were telling her to poison my food." She gave him a very serious look. "That would not be cool." She ignored the look he was giving her and clapped her hands together. "Okay, down to business. So, we have to go to all the silly events and do the whole Save the Citizen thing, whatever," She took another drink and looked to the kitchen to see if her crab Rangoon was ready, she was not a patient woman.

She was going to continue but Warren cut her off. "Okay, Garwin, I'm sure with the events we have to go to we'll have enough to write about." It was more than obvious that Warren was about excited about their project as she was, meaning not at all. He nodded his head over to the kitchen and she saw her waitress come out with her Rangoon. She set them down in front of her and gave Warren a look.

Momentarily forgetting their previous conversation she gave him a sly smile. "Why do I get the impression from her that I'm not the first girl here to see you?"

He sighed and leaned back in the booth. "Since that stupid thing at homecoming they've been coming in and wanting me as their waiter." It seemed like such a great burden on his soul, she had to laugh.

"It's no big surprise. Before that all the girls, almost everyone, just figured you would be a villain." She remembered seeing kids shrink back when he walked the halls. Maggie herself had been a little afraid of him; she always blanched when Emm began arguments with him.

He didn't say anything. She knew that had been the case; he knew that had been the case. "What about you?"

The question caught her off guard. "What about me?"

He looked at her like she was stupid. "What did you think?" He shifted his focus to her half empty glass. "Did you think I was going to be a villain?"

Emm looked at him for a second, wondering what he was expecting to hear, and more importantly what he wanted to hear. "Well, to be honest, not really." She moved her glass, if only to make him stop looking at it. "I mean, your mom was a hero, and I antagonized you all the time and you never tried to barbeque me. A credit to your patience I guess." Emm knew very well what a pain she could be when she wanted to.

Warren didn't say anything and she took the time to dig into her Rangoon. They sat like that for a while before her curiosity struck. "So, when you're they're waiter, what do they do?" She had a hard time picturing girls flirting with Warren Peace, the thought seemed so foreign to her.

He groaned and hunched forward on the table. "Stop asking questions, Garwin, you're beginning to sound like them." Emm nearly snorted into her drink.

"I'd like it if you didn't compare me to your fan girls, thank you." She pointed at him with a bit of her Rangoon. "You should consider yourself lucky that you got paired up with me and not one of them. Too bad I didn't have the same luck."

He gave her a dry look, "Yeah, because nothing could be better than playing Save the Citizen with a sidekick that has no powers."

Emm didn't say anything. She turned back to her remaining Rangoon and kept her face straight. Warren didn't know what he was talking about, but being thought of as useless was not something she enjoyed.

Across the table from her Warren let out a heavy sigh, "Listen," he started, "I didn't mean it like that." She didn't bother to look up, she wanted to hear how he would try and get himself out of it. "I'm sure you're a fine sidekick, powers or not."

She almost wanted to laugh. "Don't stress it, Peace. I'll just stay out of your way and you make sure I don't end up in the shredder, that's good enough for me. And if not then I can still kick your ass." When it came down to it she might as well not have had any powers, the chances of her actually being able to control them during the game were slim to none. It didn't stop her from being a very, very confident person, borderline arrogant really.

Out of habit she looked down to her watch. "Crap, I've got to get home." She slid out of the booth and grabbed her bag. "How much is all this?"

She was surprised when he just waved his hand dismissively. "I got it, just go away already." He'd already stood up and set her cup on the empty plate.

Emm shrugged. "Alright, deal." Free food in return for leaving Warren Peace alone? A great deal in her mind. She was almost out the door when he called out to her. Turning around she almost didn't catch the fortune cookie hurtling toward her face. She looked down at the clear packaging that crinkled in her hand then glared up at him from throwing it at her face.

"Nice catch." She made sure to glare at him doubly so before pushing the door open further and leaving. _Jerk._


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. Sorry it took so long but life has been a bit hectic. I made this chapter just a little longer though, to make up to you guys. **

**Also, you guys all seem so interested in Emm's powers that now I'm a little afraid to disappoint you. Emm's powers weren't supposed to be a big deal, just a part of her. **

**I would like to thank you all for your support, however. I love reviews, I really do. **

* * *

"So, anyone know what's happening this time?" Maggie jumped a little to find Will Stronghold standing next to her. The rest of Warren's friends fell in step beside him. On her other side Dan sighed.

"I don't think they even know at this point. They're just arguing for the sake of arguing."

The morning bell had not yet rung and already one Warren Peace and one Emmeline Garwin were hashing it out on the steps while students did their best to avoid them. They made an odd pair; Warren in his leather jacket and anger simmering just below the surface, Emm in a bright yellow tank top gesturing emphatically and cursing strongly every now and then for effect.

"Does anyone even know why they argue so much?" The two groups of friends had sometimes come together to watch the two have it out and had become mild acquaintances. There seemed to be a collective sigh at Layla's question.

Elijah moved to stand between Maggie and Dan, a poptart in his hand. "Well," he began, taking a bite and looking over at his sister, "Maybe Emm likes him."

Maggie squeaked, Dan choked on air, and all of Warren's friends seemed to lose their ability to formulate sentences. Elijah took a moment to notice the reactions he had caused, he seemed confused. "What? When we were younger Emm punched a boy in the face for telling her he liked her. She just reacts violently to romance."

As a whole they looked back at the two still arguing. Emm had begun poking Warren in the chest to emphasize each point she was apparently making. Warren's arms had begun smoking, but they all knew that Warren had never fired up when arguing with her. It was perhaps the reason Emm had survived for so long, because it was common knowledge that Emm had no powers.

"Ah, so that's her MO, huh?" Their attention was brought back Dan who was idly stroking a non-existent beard, "She punched me in the face for telling her I liked her once." Maggie choked and turned a violent shade of red before Dan could continue. "We were ten, her mom made her apologize. It's how we became friends."

Emm had as of yet to punch Warren, most probably because Warren wasn't about to tell her he liked her, because he didn't like her.

* * *

Emmeline made a face. She sincerely hoped no one chose to challenge Warren in today's Save the Citizen- or any Save the Citizen really, but that was too much to ask. Her only comfort was the knowledge that any hero who challenged him would be paired with a sidekick like her and she could, at least physically, stand her own against them.

Beside her Maggie gasped as the clock counted down and the heroes lost. Leaning forward to rest her chin on her hand she rolled her eyes, and sighed. Who was she kidding? There was no chance Warren wasn't getting challenged. Everyone wanted to beat Warren, and now that he wasn't paired with Will as Save the Citizen champions they all had a chance.

And it sucked to be Emmeline Jillian Garwin.

Almost as though the Powers That Be wanted a good laugh she heard Warren's name be called out by Jones. Ted Jones was an okay guy, in Emm's quite exclusive opinion, but his nasty electrokinesis was not gaining him any points in her book today. Muttering a long line of expletives she stood, patting Maggie on the shoulder and made her way down the bleachers to center stage to glare at Jones. Warren joined her not a second later.

Technically they had decided on a game plan last night- Emm would stay way out of the way and Warren would keep her from turning into a million little bits of shredded mini-Emms. Above them Coach Boomer shouted an unnecessarily loud "Begin!" and started the clock.

Instantly Warren had to dodge the bolt of electricity flying at him. He glared at Jones in typical Warren form and began his own attack. Satisfied that Warren and Jones would preoccupy themselves Emm turned to face her opponent who stood there as awkwardly as she was. Ryan Aarons sat behind her in Hero Support class and had the ability to turn into a cat, something he couldn't always control and often gave Emm a good laugh.

They looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and taking lax fighting positions. Ryan turned into the small tabby he was and looked up at her, wondering exactly what they were supposed to do.

"Ry, animal abuse or not, we're going to have to do something." Emm doubted that punting him like a football would go over well with the extreme animal lovers in the room; she'd seen him as a cat enough times to not even think of him as a real animal.

Giving her a weak cat look he jumped at her, digging his claws into her blue gym top. She picked him up by the scruff of fur on the back of his neck and pulled him off after a little effort. "Hey, I'm definitely pro-shape-shifter abuse," She tossed him away from her, secure in knowing that he would land on his feet, "But I just don't think it'd be fair to punch a cat."

Ryan smiled as he shifted back to his normal self and took a defensive stance. They were distracted by the sound of a park bench hitting the Plexiglas wall that separated them from the other students. Warren and Jones were still going at it fiercely and it was hard to tell who had the upper hand. Every now and then fireballs and sparks would fly past them, nearly hitting the crowd and Boomer.

She turned to face Ryan again and found he was gone. Her eyes widened and she quickly moved to search the gym floor- the stupid cat had to be somewhere.

"Garwin!"

She moved just in time to dodge the rather large bolt of lightning that had been heading straight for her. It grazed- or maybe scraped would have been a better word- her left shoulder. It left a tear in her shirt where she could see the skin turn red and ugly, the pain began kicking in soon after. Emm glared angrily at Jones, her blood pressure rising steadily.

A sound from her right made her twist around to face a now human Ryan clearly heading in for the kill, or at least the hit. It was pure instinct that made Emm swing out and punch him directly in the face, only recognizing the familiar leaden feel of her fist after she'd made contact.

Ryan flew back into the barricade and slid down in a heap. Emm's eyes were wide and she froze for a second. Most of the crowd had gone silent despite the glowing red numbers ticking down and the dummy slowly falling to his impending doom, which usually caused them to be their loudest. Warren and Jones were still off to the side and still fighting though they both seemed distracted.

Emm cursed herself a million times over before jolting into action and rushing over to where Ryan was still lying in a heap. She could see the bruise already forming on his jaw and immediately felt like the biggest piece of dirt the world had ever seen. The buzzer was ticking down and the general lack of shredding let her know they'd won, but she couldn't have cared less.

Warren was next to her a second later, looking a little tired but no worse for wear. He was surprised, no doubt, but he didn't say anything, just checked the back of Ryan's head for blood. He called for a nurse and Emm nearly died to think he could be bleeding.

The miserably yelp she'd let out made Warren look at her and he showed her his blood free hands. She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and continued to curse loudly while helplessly looking over Ryan.

When Nurse Spex got there and waved them all away Warren had to grab her arms to pull her from the spot. Dan was at her side in no time and pulled her from Warren's grasp into a half hug because Emm wouldn't turn away from the poor cat boy who sat behind her in class. Maggie was, in a bizarre role reversal, rubbing her arm and telling her repeatedly not to worry, everything would be alright. Elijah had only just reached them when Nurse Spex asked Will to help her carry Ryan to the infirmary.

Emm couldn't help the miserable moan that escaped her. How could she have been so careless? Her stupid temper had once more gotten away with her and now a friend was being hauled off because she'd nearly broken his face.

When Ryan was out of sight Emm let out a loud "Shit!" that bounced off the rafters and sounded for some seconds after she'd closed her mouth.

Warren was looking at her oddly, but that was definitely to be expected. As far as he or anyone (not including family, Dan, and Maggie) Emm was powerless, only at Sky High because of a super parent and super brother- powerless people didn't throw punches hard enough to make a boy fly ten feet away into a barricade.

Emm cursed the whole way out of the gym and onto the courtyard. Dan left to get her a drink of some sort while Maggie continued to try and ease her worry. Elijah stood off to the side wondering how best to help his sister but coming up with nothing and looking to Warren for help. For his part Warren had no idea why he had followed them, seeing as how there was no way anything he did was going to make her feel better, but curiosity was a strong thing.

"I hit him! Goddammit! I nearly broke his jaw!" She all but threw herself onto the grass and continued to curse.

"How exactly did you do that, by the way? What happened to no powers?" It wasn't exactly tactful but in a way Warren figured she would stop being angry with herself if she was too busy being angry with him. The glare she sent his way told him he was probably right.

"That was a fluke, Peace. Normally when I punch someone I don't nearly kill them."

Dan had returned with a Coke, knowing that, of all things, it would probably make her feel the best. She seemed to know that as well because she grabbed greedily at the bottle and practically tore the cap off. For a minute they were all silent as she downed it as quickly as she could manage.

When she finished Warren spoke again with a sigh. "You didn't nearly kill him, not even close. Nurse Spex is fixing him up right now." As he spoke Will Stronghold bounded down the steps towards them.

"Hey," He seemed to be speaking mostly to Emm, "Nurse Spex says he's okay. You can go see him if you want."

She moved so quickly they didn't have time to react until she already up the stairs.

* * *

The lighting was harsh in the infirmary and the already formed bruise on Ryan's face looked even nastier under the fluorescent light. Ted Jones had been with them for a while but an impending Mad Science exam called him away from his partner's side. Emm had been sitting next to his bed for the past ten minutes making a face and looking between them and Ryan. Maggie, Dan, Elijah, Warren, and Will stood there all the while in silence. Eventually it was Maggie who sighed and approached her.

"Emmy, we're going to go to class, okay?" Emm nodded and smiled at her. "He's alright and it's not your fault." She was rubbing her arm again. "And if you don't believe me, I'll just have to tell you in every language I know."

That brought a laugh out of her. They would be there all night if that were to happen. "Go on, get out of here. When he wakes up I have quite a lot of begging and pleading to do and I'd rather not have an audience." She shooed them out with her hand.

Maggie squeezed her shoulder and stepped away, smiling broadly, and was the first to leave. Dan followed after giving Emm a smile and a nod of his head. Will excused himself a little awkwardly with a smile of his own, not knowing Emm well enough to do anything else and having felt out of place the whole time he had been there. Elijah, rather than leaving moved to his sister and crouched down on his knees till he was level with her face. Having always been the sweeter of the two he had no problem kissing her cheek softly before unfolding himself to his full height and leaving.

Warren hadn't moved. Emm looked at him for a moment and cocked an eyebrow but said nothing before returning to watch over Ryan. She heard the scrape of a chair as he pulled it from the corner and brought it next to her. They said nothing for a while and the silence hung heavy over the glaringly white room.

"Okay, Peace, what are you still doing here?" She leaned back in her chair and turned to look at him.

"I'm your partner, I'm allowed to stay. I think I'm even supposed to."

Emm coughed something that sounded oddly similar to "Bullshit," before sitting up and pining him with a serious look. "You're just here to figure out how I punched him so hard."

Warren made no attempt to deny what was so clearly true. He leaned forward and looked at Ryan, taking in the heavily bruised jaw and the fact that he was _still _out and probably concussed. "If you have powers, why wouldn't you tell anyone?" He paused to look at her. "You don't strike me as the Layla type."

For a few minutes she didn't say anything. When she did he'd gotten so used to the silence that it startled him. "My powers aren't really a big deal. I can't control them and they usually only come out when I'm angry. A family trait; Elijah can barely control his telekinesis."

Warren didn't press the issue any further when he heard Ryan shifting. When the boy opened his eyes Warren stood and moved across the room where he wouldn't be imposing his presence on the two. He wasn't really sure if Emmeline was about to start begging and pleading but he felt he probably shouldn't have been a part of the discussion.

For her part Emm had immediately stood and grabbed Ryan's hand. After a second or two he seemed to come to his senses and he focused on her with a little confusion. "Why'd you let a Mac truck hit me?" He asked drowsily.

Emm was caught somewhere between laughing and dying of shame. "I'm so sorry Ryan." She began, clasping his hand in both of hers'. "I punched you and nearly broke your jaw. You also hit the barricade and got knocked out."

As though her words had reminded him he reached up to his jaw and cautiously felt along the right side of it. He winced and looked at her with wide eyes. "What kind of a punch did you throw? Did you channel the Commander or Superman?" He laughed. When Emm was feeling like the scum beneath her shoe, Ryan was laughing it off.

Warren snickered from his glare. Emm couldn't even glare at him; instead she groaned and dropped into her chair.


	4. Chapter 4

Who's a horrible person? That's right, me. I'm so so so so sorry that this took so long. Life is such a mess but that is no excuse. I give everyone permission to punch me in the face for taking forever. I promise the next one will be up soon.

Oh, and I only have $2 to my name, I own nothing.

* * *

**Chapter 4-**

She could hear the scrape of chairs and clink of dinnerware downstairs. She'd contemplated going down to help, but to be honest, she'd much rather sit and sulk. It was a rotten day, to be sure.

School had gone well enough, only one argument with Peace, no Save the Citizen, and her lunch had been rather good, but all of that was irrelevant. At this very instant, just below her, her parents and brother were setting the table for dinner… for five. Warren Peace was to have dinner at the Garwin's, by royal decree of their stupid little blue Hero-Sidekick packets. Who did they think they were?

And, that wasn't the worst of it, no. While Peace sat at her kitchen table and sulked (as she imagined he would) Maggie would be at Thompson's house, at his utter mercy, alone. The thought made her seethe. How could Principle Powers have been so stupid?

She was in the middle of a particularly vicious train of thought when Elijah peeked his head in through her open doorway. "Are you sulking because Warren is coming here, or because Mags is going to Thompson's?" Elijah was a smart boy and very much in tune with his sister's moods and habits, he knew it was probably a mixture of both.

Emm's scowl darkened visibly. "I'll kill him," she began as Elijah stepped fully into the room. "Swear to god, he lays one hand on her, I'll tear out his intestines."

He made a face at the mental picture and smartly chose against pointing out that her swearing to god didn't have much value. Their father would have laughed at it; scientist his whole life he was practically required to find the idea of god and religion humorous. Emm was very much her father's daughter.

He let his sister continue her angry sulking and made himself comfortable on her gray comforter. "You know Warren doesn't want to be here any more than you want him to be."

She rolled her eyes in his direction and stared at him blankly. There was very little comfort in the thought that Peace would be as miserable as her. And she didn't like that 'Lijah referred to him in such friendly manners, she would much rather have him say it with as much derision as she did. But, there was little chance of her brother referring to anyone with much derision.

It took a few more minutes of Elijah's good-natured pushing to draw her from her room. Downstairs she glared at the neatly set table and wished they'd greeted Peace with paper plates rather than her favorite white china. Damn her family for being so hospitable.

"Oh, quit frowning, Emmy. I'm sure he's not half as bad as you make him out to be." Her mother, with her ever present smile and bright strawberry blonde hair looked a vision in her only non-paint splattered apron. Mrs. Garwin was a painter with a heart just a few times bigger than the sun and more than her fair share of odd quirks.

If Emmeline was her father's daughter Elijah was his mother's. Sometimes it drove Emm insane how easily they forgave every little thing and how rarely their tempers even let themselves be known. Emm's father wasn't a very angry man himself (Emm's temper was always questioned by the family), but there was always the possibility that he could get cross and was far more likely to share in Emm's dislike of anyone than the other two.

"Mom, even if he was the devil himself you'd like him. Your opinion means next to nothing on this matter."

Her father nodded his head and gave them a smile as he set down a bowl of asparagus. "Let's be honest, how badly do you want me to hate him so you'll have another ally in the house?"

'Lijah let out a laugh beside her and even she had to crack a smile at how easily she'd been read by her family. "Dad, I _need_ you to hate him. And if you could hate him enough to kick him out, that would be awesome." A very unlikely situation.

The sound of the doorbell made her jump a little and sent her mother into a frenzied rush to make sure everything was set. Scowl safely in place Emm went to get the door after a look from her dad.

It comforted her to see that he looked uncomfortable and clearly out of his element. And then, it made a small streak of sympathy run through her, which she quickly shoved away. "Peace, how wonderful that you could make it." She deadpanned.

He quirked something of a half-smirk half-smile as she moved to let him pass. The Garwin home was forever in a state of tidy clutter and the family interests were immediately visible. Paintbrushes and little oil tubes littered a table pushed against the far wall and he could almost imagine those same brushes had painted the many varied paintings that hung around the room. A binder sat open on the coffee table with what looked like complex equations and a screwdriver sat not far away. The bookshelf beside the massive front window was organized by color with a small painted trinket, indistinguishable gizmo, or neatly framed photo finding its way onto each shelf.

Emm would always claim that she didn't care what he thought in the least, but she took pride in her home and all it's little bits, even if sometimes she found herself unable to find her wrench among drawers and drawers and pencils, charcoal, and brushes. "Well, here you are. The Garwin family home." She made a sweeping motion to move him along to the dining room.

The dining room was very neatly set with a vase of freshly cut flowers from the backyard but she knew full well the kitchen most likely looked like a war zone. Her mother was hardly a tidy cook, with too much frenzied energy in her to stop and wash a bowl when she was done.

"Ah, finally, Mr. Warren Peace, pleasure to meet you." Her father was the first to step forward and hold his hand out to Peace, who shook it firmly with a muttered "You too, sir"

Her mother quickly skittered around the side of the table to join them. "Oh, I love your hair, that color must be so hard to maintain."

Emm couldn't help the snicker that followed. Of course her mother would notice the color of his hair first. Elijah and her father seemed equally amused and in no way surprised. Abigail Garwain was very easily distracted by colors.

"Oh! Right, manners." She laughed a little with that bright, contagious smile of hers. "Abigail Garwin, Emmy and 'Lijah's mom, though you've probably already guessed that. It's great to meet you and I'm sure Emmy's just exaggerating and you aren't quite so horrible as she says. You can call me Abby, or Mrs. Garwin, I guess, or mom even. Maggie does it."

"Mom!" Emm half shouted, partly to stop her ramble, "He cannot call you mom. Now, stop being so nice." She walked past them both to stand by her father. "How am I supposed to get dad to dislike him so severely he invents an anti-Warren Peace shield if you're trying to convince him to call you mom."

She was gentle shoved away with a chuckle and told to sit down. Elijah, who'd been quietly watching the introductions gave a little wave from the table. "Hi, Warren."

Warren, for his part, hid his surprise and however overwhelmed he might be quite well and just gave them all a half smile. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Garwin. Hi." Then he turned to Emm. "An anti-Warren Peace shield? Really?"

* * *

"Hey! That's mine!" Emm was quick to swat Elijah's hand with a fork when he moved in on her crumble.

"Emmy, please be careful not to stab anyone."

"It's alright, she forgets that I can get it without even coming close to her."

"Don't you dare. We'll all get covered in blackberry crumble and I'll have to hurt someone."

"Well, no offense Warren, but if that happens I'm glad you're here."

"If you ruin my dessert and cover me in it I will completely forgo Peace and turn all my rage on you."

"Glad to hear it, Garwin."

"This happens every time we make blackberry crumble. Why don't we ever learn?"

Dessert followed in much the same way dinner had and Emm had been quite surprised at Peace's lack of sulking. He hadn't been loquacious by any means, but he'd spoken and, much to her chagrin, her parents seemed to like him.

"Oh!"

Warren managed to not jump when Mrs. Garwin suddenly rose from the table. Emm and Elijah were very much used to this and knew exactly what would follow. "I've got it! It'll be perfect." She rushed around the table quickly and gave Warren a hurried hug that left him surprised and a little wide-eyed before rushing off in the other direction.

"Don't worry about that, she does that." With the fight over her dessert over Emm could focus on actually enjoying it. "She's a painter, remember, she just got inspiration." She took a large bite out of her crumble.

"Yeah, and the hug was either a you've-inspired-me-how-wonderful-hug or just a it-was-lovely-to-meet-you-Emmy-is-just-a-little-insane-hug." 'Lijah gave him his most sage look before returning to his plate and dodging Emm's halfhearted attempt at swatting him.

"Hun," Emm turned to the head of the table as she began clearing up plates. "Why don't you show Warren the house and 'Lijah and I will take care of this."

She made a face, but set down her plates with a sigh and motioned for Peace to follow her. "Come on, let's have a tour."

He stood to follow her, grabbing his signature leather jacket from the back of the chair. When he'd joined her at the dining room entrance she took it from him and led him to the living room they'd first seen. "Here's the living room, you know, the room you first see when you walk in." She made a distracted motion with her hand as she hung the jacket on one of the hooks on the wall. "All the paintings are mom's."

The tour continued with Emm becoming a little less dispassionate with each room, she was proud of her home, after all. "And this is 'Lijah's room." She didn't think twice about letting them both in and motioning around.

Elijah's room was done up in a dusty sort of blue and, while a little disorganized, looked clean and cozy. It was the drawings on the walls that drew Warren's attention. On every single wall there was a wallpapering of sketches done in charcoal or pencil, some colored, some half done, but all good. He moved around the room looking at each in turn and was only a little surprised to find more than a few renditions of Emmeline among drawings of animals, plants, places, and portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Garwin along with Maggie, Dan, and a few others he thought he'd seen at school.

"'Lijah doesn't paint as much as mom, but he loves to draw. And he's damn good too."

His eyes moved over from a picture to where Emm stood against the doorway. He tapped the wall. "He's too nice to you."

Her eyes narrowed and she made a face at him. "My house, Peace, I'll win every fight in here." She had, so far, tried to keep fighting to a minimum over dinner and Peace had failed to rise to any of her bating, but that could change in an instant. "Let's go, one more stop."

The walls of Emm's room were a pale yellow and, like the rest of the Garwin house, was forever in a state of tidy clutter. The short bookshelf against the far wall was packed with books, arranged alphabetically this time, with the same tendency to have little nicknacks sticking out, and held even more scattered objects on top of it. Beside the door stood her computer desk which was littered with neatly stacked books and pages of what he assumed was homework. Her bed was made up with a gray comforter and yellow pillows and he was amused to see a sock monkey sitting on the short shelf beside the window and above her bed where her (again yellow) phone and alarm clock sat.

He waltzed in and sat down on the corner of her bed to get a better look at her bookshelf while she stood in the doorway with a half scowl. She had realized, sometime over dinner, that he probably wasn't used to getting a warm welcome in most places. Even though he and Stronghold were friends now she couldn't imagine the Commander very cheerily asking him over for a cup of tea and she knew most Supers were obnoxiously aware of his parentage.

Theodore Garwin had never been one to let Super politics affect him. He preferred to work on his inventions and take care of his family without worrying over whose parents had done what. It was one of the many reasons she adored her father.

"What is that supposed to be?" She was drawn from her little reverie and followed his pointing finger to the corner desk which currently sat covered in the remains of their toaster.

"Our toaster, it broke so I was fixing it." She watched him nod and go back to idly fingering her Bowie CD's.

"Your dad's the inventor, though, right?" Emm nodded and moved to her work station. Picking up one of the coils she brushed it off and set it into place, making sure it locked in right. "But you're the one fixing the toaster?"

"I can't have a hobby, Peace?"

The phone rang and she practically clambered over him to get to it. She was half on the bed and half on him but at the moment she was more preoccupied with hearing news from Maggie and didn't care if she was on top of Peace.

"Hello? Mags- Oh. Oh, hi aunt Margie." Her voice fell flat though she tried to keep some semblance of interest in the conversation. She was fond of her aunt Margie, but was too worried over Maggie's dinner with Thompson to really gossip with her aunt. "Yeah, we're fine, how are you? That's good. Nope, no boyfriend. Nope. Listen, auntie, I have company over, I'll send you down to dad. Yes, it's a boy. I'd rather gag myself and jump off a pier than even consider that."

She glared at Peace when he swatted the back of her head but said nothing. "Okay, yeah, transferring the call now. By aunt Margie." She routed the call to the downstairs phone, knowing her father would get it in a second, and hung up. Her teeth began their usual assault on her lip and she sighed. Maybe she could just find out where Thompson lived and swing by?

"Listen, Garwin, as glad as I am that you aren't a fangirl, I'll have to reconsider my opinion of you if you don't get off me." She turned to Peace with a confused look before she realized she was still practically on top of him and he'd had to lean back on her to accommodate her. The speed at which she jumped off was something to be envied.

With some awkward throat clearing she moved to stand back in the doorway.

"Who are you expecting a call from that you're willing to climb over me to get to the phone?" He raised an eyebrow in typical Peace fashion and decided she was more interesting than her CD collection or half built toaster.

Emm continued to worry her lip and looked anxiously at the clock. With Peace there she'd almost forgotten that she was supposed to be plotting possible murders for Thompson. "You're having dinner with me, Maggie's having dinner with Thompson."

He made a face to rival her own and an agreement hung in the air over them; they'd rather have a million dinners with each other rather than one with Thompson. "She's at Thompson's house? What was Powers thinking? Pairing her with him?"

"I know! My sentiments exactly!" With a huff she threw up her arms and moved to sit at the head of her bed, pushing her pillow aside. "I mean, I was pissed when we got paired up, but I can handle you and you can handle me. And if you piss me off enough I can punch you clear through a wall. But the most Maggie can do is tell him off in every language known to man."

He made a noise which she took to mean his agreeing with all part and moved to accommodate himself better on her bed. With his back against the wall his long legs came right off the side of her bed and he earned just a few points in her mind for keeping his shoes off her bed. "Thompson's an ass, but she should be alright."

When she raised her eyebrow as far as it would go he clarified. "She's not exactly the most assertive person," Emm nodded resignedly. "But, she's been around you for how long? Something must have rubbed off."

It was true, Emm had enough assertiveness to cover the both of them and it wasn't like Dan was a wilting flower himself either. Dan was calm, cool, and collected, but Emm was fully aware that angering him would always been a great mistake. Her angry was quick to flare and quick to die back down (though she'd been known to hold a grudge or two), but Dan would simmer and simmer and she could only imagine what would happen when he finally burst.

"I'll kill him, you know." She gave him a serious look and he pretended to believe she would ever really kill anyone. "He lays one hand on her and I'll run him into the ground."

Emmeline Garwin was violent and easily angered, but there was very little doubt in his mind that she would never be able to kill anyone. They had fought enough times that he fancied he knew a thing or two about her and underneath all that arrogance and foul language and readiness to call him on any little thing was a bleeding heart. He kept that to himself for now.

"Well, if anything you could just play David Bowie until he dies." He gestured to the extensive CD collection and started up their first argument of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Look! Another chapter out so soon? Consider it my way of apologizing for being such an easily distracted moron and taking forever. Hope you like it.

* * *

**Chapter 5-**

She would deny it under oath, but at least to herself she could admit that dinner with Warren Peace hadn't been quite the medieval torture she had expected. He hadn't been sulky and in between their three fights for the night they had, dare she say it, gotten along. It wasn't a thought that brought her much joy, but at the same time, as long as no one else found out, she could live with it.

And, according to Maggie, dinner with Andrew Thompson hadn't been horrendous either. Dan's dinner with Marcus had been assured to be pleasant if uneventful. They had left the Garwin house particularly early that day and woken Maggie up with a barrage of questions rather than the usually prodding about being late. Maggie had been chipper and bright and declared, over and over again, that everything had gone just fine.

Emm wanted to believe her, really, but there was something off, she just couldn't place what.

It was a rather lovely day out and Maggie had insisted that they eat lunch outside. Few students ate outside but there'd been a nice breeze all morning that signaled the coming of fall and there was little they could do to deny Maggie anything.

So, while Maggie, Dan, and 'Lijah stood in line, she plopped her tray down in front of Warren Peace. Only Layla and Will had sat with him at this point and they looked at her curiously. Warren, for his part, just sighed when she held out the burnt CD.

"You made me a mix tape? How sweet."

She rolled her eyes and thrust it into his open hand. "Don't make me hurt you." She glanced at the line and decided there was no point in standing while she waited. "I'm trying to enlighten you on the better ages of music."

He waved the CD at her after looking it over and smirking at the title- _The Enlightenment of an Idiot_. "Do you listen to anything from this decade?" He reached over and plucked a fry from her plate and she spared a moment to look shocked and wave her spork around dangerously.

"I threatened to stab my brother, imagine what I'd do to you. And yes, I do, I just prefer the classics."

"Right. Let me guess: Bowie, Bowie, Bowie, and Bowie?"

"No, though there are three songs on there by him. But there's also The Who, and The Turtles, love them, and Tommy James and the Shondells. I would have included some Beatles but I assumed it was unnecessary."

"What are you going to do with David Bowie dies?"

"Bite your tongue!" She looked appropriately horrified at the thought and held the spork in front of her as though she'd stab him at any second. "David Bowie is immortal. He doesn't age, pay attention."

"Right, I'll send flowers."

She narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose at him. "Ass."

By this time his table had filled up with the rest of his friends though hers were still in line. She noted that they'd all angled themselves away from them and realized they were protecting their food in case of a fight. She wouldn't waste food on Peace.

Back in the line Maggie caught her eye. She was chatting animatedly with Dan and sent her a bright grin that made Emm frown. She watched her closely, knowing she was distracted, and tried to figure out what it was that made her not believe when she said everything had gone well with Thompson.

"What?"

She looked at Peace with the same confused look as when he'd call her out for being on top of him. "Huh?"

"That look on your face, what is it?" She didn't notice him taking yet another fry from her plate. Or the fact that he'd taken a good few at this point.

She contemplated Maggie for a moment longer before speaking. "Mags."

Peace nodded and turned surreptitiously to get a look of the short omnilingual in question. "What happened with Thompson?" He turned back around to find Emm's eyes hadn't moved from her friend.

"She says nothing happened. She says everything was fine, uneventful even." He waited for her to elaborate and she did. "But something's wrong. She's too chipper."

His eyebrows made a slow journey up his forehead. "She's always chipper. Always."

"Yeah, I know that. But this isn't the right kind of chipper. This is overcompensate-by-being-too-chipper-chipper." The frown on her face deepened.

Warren took a moment to study her while she studied Maggie. "Do you realize that 80% of the time you make absolutely no sense?" He caught her hand as she made a distracted swat at him and set it away from him. "I think you just dislike Thompson so much that you're convinced he has to be an ass all the time, nonstop."

Finally she looked away from Maggie. She gave her tray a half glance and realized she was short almost all her fries but let it go. He might have been right, but she was hardly about to let him know that.

Maggie and Dan were waving her over and she slapped Peace's hand with her spork when he reached for another fry. Making sure all her remaining fries were still on her plate she stood and nodded at him, sent a smile to his friends, and left to join her own.

Once outside Maggie began chatting animatedly again and Emm couldn't take it anymore. She moved to cut her off as they walked and set her tray on the stone steps before taking Maggie's and doing the same. Maggie blinked at her.

"Mags," Emm placed her hands on Maggie's shoulders to keep her from moving away and looked at her seriously. "Mags, if anything ever happened you would tell us, right? Because, we're your best friends and we'd want to know." She didn't want to guilt her, but she had to know. "You wouldn't lie to us, right?"

Maggie's grin fell from her face and Emm's worry increased two-fold. She gave a little sigh and moved past Emm to sit on the steps. Dan was beside her in a second and Emm only a moment after. Elijah hovered on the step behind her, a worried look on his handsome face.

Already Emm's mind was running a mile a minute with the many things she would do to destroy Thompson. She placed her hands on either side of Maggie, effectively boxing her in, to support herself and keep from flying off the handle too soon.

"Please, it's not really a big deal. It's nothing."

Dan wrapped his arm around her but his face was grim and she could practically feel his anger already simmering beneath the surface. "If it was nothing you wouldn't have tried to hide it from us." Even though he kept his voice calm and steady Emm could feel the temperature begin to drop around them.

"Dinner was fine and his parents were nice." They waited for her to continue. "We were just talking afterward, you know. Then he kissed me."

The air around Dan went positively frigid. "I didn't want him to so I pushed him away and he just kept coming back. I ended up running away." She finished hurriedly and gave them both a scared look.

Emm closed her eyes and tried to ignore how every muscle in her body was tensing, completely oblivious to the stone giving way beneath her fingers as she balled up her fists. She took a few deep breaths and tried to organize her thoughts in any way that didn't lead to immediate murder. Finding none she bolted from where she had squatted and ran up the stairs.

She wasn't sure if they were following but she thought she still felt the cold coming from Dan. All through the halls people were moving out of her way and beginning to whisper. Lunch was nearly over and she knew there was a good chance she'd find him in the halls at his locker. Even without knowing where his locker was she found him in no time; she figured out of pure determination. He had his back turned to her and had no idea what was happening when she swung him around with new found strength.

The first punch caught him off guard and he flew to the ground and skidded a few feet. Within seconds she was on him and he powered up, thinking the metallic covering would protect him. But, her blood pressure was at an all time high and she doubted that she'd ever been so angry and knew she was in perfect control of her powers now.

With every hit she increased the force behind it until she began to see the metal denting. She'd straddled his chest and it would have taken Will Stronghold to push her off. A crowd had formed around them, cheering with the disgusting mob mentality that always grew around a fight. Somewhere in the back of her mind she acknowledged that Dan was there and had taken it upon himself to stop anyone from interfering and that Elijah was shielding Maggie from view. Even among those that cheered there were the astounded few that couldn't help but wonder how the powerless sidekick was doing it.

With every resounding _clang_ caused by her fist on Thompson's metal face she felt a little better and found motivation to keep going. She'd just made another satisfying hit when she felt two arms grab at her and pull back. It was surprise alone that allowed them to lift her. Faintly recognizing that they were Peace's arms she slipped through and resumed her previous assault.

"Garwin!" He'd known almost the instant news of the fight reached the cafeteria that she was somehow involved. He'd only been mildly surprised to find her on top of Thompson and beating him with such a force that he thought he'd seen a crack in the tile, only a tad more surprised to spot Patterson blocking anyone from interfering with a look that scared even him.

"Emmeline!" When she failed to react he'd moved around Patterson and reached for her. Thompson was a dirtbag and most likely deserved everything she was doing to him, but he was hardly worth being expelled over. She'd felt too heavy at first and he knew there was no way she weighed that much- she wasn't as petite as Maggie, but she was still a great deal smaller than him.

The real surprise came when she, quite literally, slipped through his arms. For a moment he was stunned to find she'd phased right through him before he moved to grab at her again. This time there was no budging her and he stepped back to watch the continued barrage on Thompson's not-so-shiny metal face.

"Enough!" There was one more resounding _clang_ before she looked up at Principal Powers. "Miss Garwin, stand up, right now! And follow me."

Reluctantly she stood and attempted to calm herself before moving forward. Dan made to step closer and she shot him a look before subtly shaking her head and motioning to the clearly upset Maggie.

Below her Thompson had powered down and everyone got a good look at the ugly bruises already forming all over his face. The bruises almost made her grin but just looking at Thompson was enough to cause her anger to start bubbling again and she looked away. Without a word she followed Principal Powers.

She realized Peace was following behind half way to the main office. She sent him a curious glance but otherwise didn't care if he came. Dan had needed to stay behind with Maggie but Peace was her partner and the rules did state that they should deal with things together. She took that to mean impending expulsion too.

Besides, she knew he had to be writhing with curiosity.

Curiosity was actually the main reason he'd followed. Curiosity over her powers, over what Thompson had done, and how bad her punishment would be. He should have reconsidered her bleeding heart status but he remained convinced that she'd only used enough strength to affect him through the metal.

When they reached her office Principal Powers rolled her eyes at Warren and told them both to sit. "I need to go make sure Mr. Thompson still has a face."

The smile that spread on Emm's face at the comment was contagious and he found himself affecting a smaller version of it. He may have tried to stop her, but it was more for her benefit than Thompson's. And he'd be lying if he'd said he hadn't felt a small bit of pride when he'd seen her handiwork. It would certainly stop any comments about his powerless sidekick, at least.

"I thought it was uncontrolled super strength at first." She looked at him expectantly, knowing this was exactly the reason he'd come. "But you phased right through me and you weighed a ton so I have no idea what it is now."

For a second she watched him, then gave a quick fake-looking grin and rested her elbows on her knees. "Molecular manipulation, that's how dad likes to refer to it. I can control the atoms in my body to a certain extent. I remain myself with all my elements in place, but I can make myself more or less dense. The high density account for the strength and the weight." She paused as though trying to figure out the best way to explain. "It's not really that I'm stronger, you know, it's just that there's more behind the punch."

A thought struck her. "Like, say you hit someone over the head with a ceramic vase as hard as you can, it still wouldn't be so bad as hitting them at half strength with a lead pipe." A crooked smile made its way across her face. "Essentially, I could block kryptonite from affecting Superman."

"And the phasing right through my arms?"

"Ah, that bit's a little harder to explain because we haven't quite figured it out. Dad thinks I just rearrange my molecules around the object." She shrugged. "It's hard to study it when it only manifests when I'm angry."

Principal Powers walking back in interrupted their little chat and Emm leaned back in her seat, adopting a serious pout. "Well, luckily Mr. Thompson does still have a face. You could have killed him." She reprimanded as she circled Emm and moved to her chair.

"No, I couldn't have." Emm made a point to avoid Principal Powers' eyes and look out the window instead. "I put only enough force to get through his stupid covering. I didn't want to kill him." No matter how many different possible ways to do just that had flashed through her head.

Finally, she brought her eyes over to Principal Powers. "I wanted to hurt him."

They were quiet for a moment before Principal Powers cleared her throat. "I thought Mr. Peace here was your usual antagonist, but you've never attacked him like that." Warren couldn't help but be extremely grateful for it. "So, why Mr. Thompson?"

A pregnant silence hung above them. "He tried to force himself on Maggie."

Warren's head snapped to look at her but her eyes were determinedly glued to Principal Powers. Now he wished he hadn't pulled her away for even a second.

Garwin and Maggie had always been spared the sidekick bullying and teasing that afflicted their classmates and most thought the reason behind it was Dan Patterson and his staunch defense of them. He knew better. Emmeline Garwin was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, even without her powers, and she was spared for fear of the ruckus she would cause.

Maggie Rollings was spared simply because her bright, quiet, and generous nature endeared her to most people. Whether they knew her or not most of the students found it difficult to be cruel to her. She was generally liked and to think of trying to force yourself on her was akin to choking a puppy with a bike chain.

"That a serious accusation, Emmeline."

Emm gave her a very flat, very serious look. "He didn't get far, just wouldn't stop kissing her, but it scared her and I won't apologize for what I did."

Principal Powers nodded and took a moment to look at her desk and focus herself. After a minute she stood. "Detention, Miss Garwin. For a week, but I will be speaking to both Mr. Thompson and Miss Rollings which may or may not change that. And you'll be spending the rest of the day in detention."

Emm nodded at everything she said, relieved that neither suspension or expulsion were on the agenda for the day. She leaned forward in her seat. "But, you're going to separate them, right? You have to cancel their partnership or switch them out or something." All the super powered assaults in the world meant nothing if Maggie was still required to spend time with him.

"Trade us out." Peace looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "I can trust Peace with Maggie, and I can clearly take care of Thompson."

"No, that won't be necessary. Once I speak with Miss Rollings and Mr. Thompson I'll exempt them from this month's partnership save for their essay." She walked around her desk and opened the door for them. "Mr. Peace, escort Miss Garwin to the detention room, please."


	6. Chapter 6

Look at me, popping these babies out.

Okay, so I have a question. Do you guys picture anyone when you think of Emm, Dan, Maggie, or Elijah? 'Cause, outside of Emm, I only have a vague image of them and I've realized I haven't written much in the way of a description for them. Except, I think, Maggie's hair color, and that Emm has dark hair. So, what do you guys picture them as?

* * *

**Chapter 6-**

She thought it was a little funny that the Detention room didn't really deprive her of anything she didn't usually go without anyways. She did not find it funny that the glaringly white walls of the room were her only companions for an hour and a half after school had finished. The first day Maggie had insisted that they wait for her but she'd shooed them off home and refused to bring them down with her boredom.

On the third day she got smart and threw a few pieces of her project for Mad Science in her bag to work on. As it turned out, the floor of the Detention room was actually an excellent work space and in no time she'd forgotten that she was supposed to leave until Principal Powers walked in. That did not, by any rights, mean that she was glad to be there and she still huffed and puffed every day when the final bell rang.

Maggie not having to work anywhere near Thompson was always worth it, though. The bruises all over Thompson's face when he returned to school a day later were very much worth it too. On the whole she thought a week's worth of detentions in which she worked uninterrupted on all her little projects for Thompson's utter humiliation and agony had been a great deal for her.

Despite her detentions Emm had been almost chipper in the past few days. She'd brushed off all the inquiries into her sudden super strength with a crooked grin in her hero support classes and a little sort of smile to almost anyone else. Her lengthy argument with Peace the day before on which of them was the bigger ass and or bitch hadn't even dented her good mood. Well, not for long anyway.

It was enough to make her less reluctant about having to have dinner at his house later.

She'd been on her way to meet Maggie for Hero Support History when she heard Thompson's familiar and grating voice around the corner. Without really knowing why she leaned against the wall, just out of sight, and listened.

"Well, Peace," She looked around and realized his locker was, in fact, just around the corner. "I think you need to learn to control that rabid sidekick of yours." Immediately her blood pressure shot up and she moved to confront the bastard.

The distinct sound of someone being slammed against the lockers stopped her.

"Listen here, Thompson," She pressed herself against the wall and ignored the odd looks she was getting and the interested looks from everyone who'd stopped in the hall to watch Peace and Thompson. She had to really strain her spectacular hearing to catch everything.

"You so much as look at Maggie Rollings, or Garwin for that matter, again and I'll melt that armor right off of you and feed you to her." Somewhere in her head she was insulted that he thought she needed protection, but it was sufficiently drowned out by his active protection of Maggie. And the knowledge that he meant her as his ultimate threat.

She couldn't help but grin widely as Thompson stumbled off, looking satisfyingly disheveled, past her and the crowd began to disperse. Grin still in place she swung around the corner and looked at Peace.

He clearly hadn't been expecting her if his wearied sigh and eye roll were any indication.

* * *

"How do you always get your lunch so quickly?"

She looked up from the loose string on her skirt and blinked at Zach, whose yellow shirt almost matched her's in intensity. "I get in line early." She motioned to Maggie, Dan, and Elijah who were all still in line. "I have Mad Science before lunch and they don't."

She wasn't sure when she'd started sitting with Peace and his friends while she waited for her own group, but the annoyed look on Peace's face was always worth it.

Emm liked his friends, that she had to admit. Zach's bright colors, mostly the yellows, were endearing to her (not that he'd ever know) and his constantly fumbling around Magenta amused her. She didn't understand it since they'd been dating for a year by now, but it amused her. Ethan made the best faces when it seemed Peace and her were going to fight again and turned out to be rather useful when it came to random bits of history she'd forgotten for class, even if he was a year behind her.

She liked seeing Magenta as a pair with Zach and had been patiently (for once in her life) waiting for the chance to play with Guinea Magenta. Will Stronghold had been alright in her books since that first fight with Peace and for a week after it she'd proclaimed him her hero. Now he was just a nice guy who didn't seem to mind when she teased him. And, Layla. While Layla's ever-cheerful demeanor might have been off-putting for some, she had been friends with Maggie for too many years to be bothered. To her it seemed a perfectly normal way of being, even if Layla lacked the frequent nervousness that Maggie suffered from.

"So, why don't you have Mad Science with Maggie?" It was generally true that all the sidekicks and all the heroes had their own Mad Science period.

"Oh, I'm kind of in an advanced class." And by advanced she meant a very exclusive class of only four students during Mr. Medulla's planning period. Emm strived to be a good student in all classes, but she excelled in Mad Science. Across from her Peace nodded in a way that suggested he was hardly surprised.

Will's eyes lit up and he began scrounging around in his backpack. "In that case," he lugged what she immediately recognized as a badly constructed shrink ray from the bottom of the bag, "can you please tell me why I can't get this to work?"

Her eyes lit up now and she practically lunged for the ray gun. She heard Peace scoff across the table as she turned it delicately in her hands and studied it. Setting it down she forgot all about lunch as she reached into her own bag and began extracting everything she thought she might need.

Zach sputtered in his seat. "Why do you have all of that with you?"

She barely spared him a glance before she began dismantling the gun. "I have nothing else to do during my detentions."

"Oh boy, we've lost her."

She did look up, screwdriver in her mouth, when she heard Dan. "It will just take a second, I swear." She assumed they understood her around the screwdriver and returned to her work. Until, she noticed Peace's friends making room for her group.

"No! Don't sit." They all froze. "You guys sitting down here could cause a catastrophic chain of events that will end in my untimely death." She thought there was an added effect in not looking up from her work as she spoke.

"I have carefully measured my time spent at Peace's table to ensure that this wouldn't happen." It took her no time at all to take the gun apart. "We can't have integration."

"What?"

"If you guys sit down now there's a very real likelihood that you'll all get along. And, I think you already do from when we fight." She motioned between herself and Peace with the screwdriver, never looking up. "And then, next thing I know out groups have integrated for lunch." With the same alarming speed with which she'd dismantled the gun she began to rebuild it, stopping only when she had to search through her parts for a proper connector.

"I like you guys alright," she mumbled around the screwdriver that was once more in her mouth before she put it to use again, "but there's only so much of Peace I can take and he cannot become a regular lunch fixture who steals my fries." She ignored that he already had.

Dan, Maggie, and Elijah looked between themselves before simultaneously moving to sit down anyways. Emm was too preoccupied with the gun to notice.

"Did I say 80? I meant to say you make no sense 90% of the time. My mistake." Warren dodged the distracted attempt to hit him with the screwdriver and continued to eat her fries.

Finally Emm looked up and was clearly upset to see they'd completely ignored her. "You sat down! I'm doomed!" Maggie patted her head as though she were a puppy. "In other news," her grin was back, "you now have the best shrink ray in the school."

* * *

However humorous she'd found Peace's discomfort when he'd stood on her front porch she didn't find it funny when it was her standing at his door. Peace lived further into the city in a townhouse style row of apartments and she was glad the bus dropped her off on his block else she might have had trouble finding it. Her sense of time was impeccable, her sense of direction not so much.

Normally she would have just had her dad drive her up, but the Garwin home would be missing its elder members for the next few days thanks to the double whammy of a Mad Science convention and an art gallery in the same week. Sometimes, if the events were big enough, their parents would decide they were good enough students to miss a day or two and bring them along for the ride. Emm would never be as interested as Elijah and her mother in the art galleries, but she and her father always found themselves entertained. It worked the other way for their science conventions.

When she left the house Elijah had just been about to order himself a pizza and she knew he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and the house for however long he needed to, but she still called when the bus got to Peace's street. He'd laughed at her and just pointed out that she was nervous about being on Peace's home turf. She hung up.

While she waited for someone to answer the door she tugged anxiously at her skirt. She had meant to change when she'd gotten home but then the DVD player had started acting up and she was too occupied with fixing it to remember. Her miniskirt wasn't really mini and was perfectly acceptable by all rights but she still felt a little awkward meeting Mrs. Peace in it. She'd had the sense to grab a jacket to drape over her bright yellow tank top at least.

She heard the locks turn on the other side of the door and took a deep breath. There was no way she'd give Peace the satisfaction of seeing her nervous- she'd enjoyed being on the other side too much.

It wasn't Peace who opened the door. Well, technically it was a Peace, but not her Peace. Not that he was _her_ Peace in any way, shape, or form, nor did she want him to be.

Mae Peace was a pretty looking woman somewhere around Maggie's height with soft Asiatic eyes and a pleasant smile. Emm imagined Peace completely dwarfed her. "Oh, you must be Emmeline, please come in."

There was something about her that immediately put Emm at ease and she smiled easily as she stepped into the Peace home. Unlike her own house, which was decorated in crisp, cool colors, everything in the Peace household seemed to scream warmth. She couldn't bring herself to be surprised. The living room was warm and cozy and neater than her own. It was modestly decorated but everything seemed inviting and she almost scowled because she really didn't want anything related to Peace to be inviting.

"I'm Mae, dear, please don't bother with calling me Mrs. Peace or anything."

Emm noted that she still considered herself a Mrs. and not a Ms. but made no comment on it. Instead she smiled and nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Come, dear, Warren's this way." She was led through a short hallway into the kitchen and attached dining room. "Warren, you forgot to tell me how pretty she is." If Emm had been Maggie her face would have matched the red of Warren's shirt, instead she just muttered a thanks and took in the kitchen.

"Sorry, mom." He didn't sound sorry, but she didn't really care.

"This looks great." She'd wanted to mock Peace somehow about not talking up her beauty but found herself unable to in the presence of Mrs.- Mae. And the food did look great. Even with Peace involved she would still be getting a better dinner than Elijah.

Mae gave her a little smile and led her to the table. "Don't look at me, Warren's the cook here." She leaned in conspiratorially, ignoring the look Emm was giving her son, and mock whispered. "I'm a little rubbish in the kitchen, if he hadn't learned how to cook he'd have to live off of TV dinners and cereal."

A little smirk formed on Emm's face as Warren set the last of the dishes down and rolled his eyes at her. "Cooking, huh?"

"I can't have a hobby, Garwin?" He echoed her own words back to her and sat down.

Again, she found herself unwilling to argue and wondered why.

He sighed across the little round table and began to serve himself. "Mom, ease up a little." He ignored the different confused looks he got from both of them. "You're doing it without realizing and Garwin without the necessity to argue on everything I say is a little unsettling."

"I do not argue with _everything _you say." She looked surprised. "Oh! Oh, I'm back to normal." She smiled, satisfied. "What was that?"

Mae _tutted_ at herself and took the bowl of rice pilaf that Warren handed her. "That was me, sorry. I control emotions." She gave her an apologetic look. "I wanted you to feel at ease but I guess I went overboard and stopped you from arguing with Warren, which is apparently a bad thing." She passed the bowl over to Emm.

"It is a bad thing. It's the foundation of our entire relationship." Whatever crazy antagonistic partnership it was. "We're known throughout the school for it."

Peace nodded across from her.

"If we stopped arguing one day they'd take us to see Nurse Spex." She set the rice bowl back down in the center of the table. "But, thank you, for trying to make me feel at ease." She thought perhaps there were still residual effects that continued to relax her. Maybe it was just Mae's presence.

* * *

It irked him a little that she got on so readily with his mother, but he had to admit she would always be the friendlier one out of the two of them. Her family had been very welcoming, and it had surprised him, but his own disposition prevented him from laughing as easily as she now was. In any case, he'd known there was no way she wouldn't get along with his mother. He disliked her, of course, due to some never-ending antagonistic chain the beginnings of which he couldn't remember, but he'd known his mother would like her.

"I mean, can you imagine all the 'you wouldn't like me when I'm angry' jokes? I'll stick with being a powerless sidekick, thank you very much." She'd also been much more forthcoming when asked about her powers than she had been with him. He blamed his mother for that and the fact that she was probably still making Garwin too relaxed.

"Warren, I'll take care of the dishes, show Emm around a bit." Emm chuckled to herself, realizing all parents were the same.

"Thank you again, for having me. Even if you didn't have much choice in the matter." They exchanged smiles before Mae shooed them out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "Lead on, Peace."

Peace was not quite so enthusiastic in his tour guide duties as she had been but she figured a "that's mom's room, bathroom, my room," would have to do. His room, she noted, was more spacious than hers and impeccably tidy. She'd always seen Peace as a typical boy with a messy room and clothes thrown all about (despite the fact that neither Dan nor 'Lijah were like that) and was surprised when she realized that absolutely _everything_ was in its place.

From the papers on his desk to his CDs (alphabetized by artist and album title) everything was neat and organized. Even without the comforting clutter she was accustomed to his room was nice. The walls were a deep enough red that they didn't hurt your eyes, but not so deep that she felt the need to call him a sissy emo child or vampire or anything of the sort. Like the rest of the house it was inviting and damn if his bed didn't look comfortable. She considered looking into a new mattress.

"Well, well, well. You cook and you're absurdly neat." She looked over to his spot on the bed where he'd been trying to ignore her. "Peace, you have layers."

He gave her a long sideways glance. "Compare me to an onion and I'll throw you right out the window."

She waved her finger mockingly and moved to sit on the bed (he'd made himself at home on her's) and leaned forward to study his CD collection. "Nuh-uh. Your mom likes me, she wouldn't be too happy if you did that." She frowned at his CDs.

"You give me crap about my musical choices but half of these aren't from this decade either!" Though some CDs were of more recent bands quite a few of them were from the 80's. One particular CD caught her eye and she let herself slide off the bed to reach it. She heard him groan behind her. "Ha! I knew you'd like him! Everyone loves David Bowie."

Ignoring her declaration of victory he snatched the case from her hands. "Not everyone _loves_ him, Garwin, and certainly not like you do. He's good, that's all."

She paid him no mind and just snatched the case back. "He's a god, Peace. Get it right." Turning back to his stereo system she removed the previous disk- which she was surprised to learn was her mix- and replaced it with the one in her hands. "You should just learn to not disagree with me anymore. I'm always right."

The pillow that smacked her in the back of the head set off another fight that somehow ended in a temporary truce based on Westerns and Steve McQueen.


	7. Chapter 7

Funny thing, I've got so much muse all of a sudden for this story that I've neglected to do two take-home exams, a paper, and a bunch of units for school. Guess who's staying up all night? That's right.

I even have chapter eight done too, but I'll hold off on it for a little while, I need to edit a bit.

I still own nothing.

* * *

**Chapter 7-**

It was obnoxiously warm in her room. Her internal clock told her, repeatedly, that it was time to get up but she couldn't bring herself to do so just yet. It served her right, for staying up late the night before last working on her Mad Science project and then waking up before dawn as usual the next day, of course she'd be extra tired today. And then she'd had to deal with going to Peace's house for dinner.

Emm bolted straight up. Her room was _never_ obnoxiously warm because it was a term she reserved for Peace. And her room was never so neat because she always had some odd thingamajig to work on. And her walls were certainly not red.

She let out a loud groan and dropped her head into her hands. Elijah was going to kill her, if she didn't commit suicide first. She glared at the image of Steve McQueen on the DVD case at the end of the bed. If the stupid movie hadn't distracted her they would have just kept fighting until she left. They would not have settled down to watch it instead and, apparently, fall asleep. She groaned again.

"Go to sleep, Garwin."

She squeaked (not squeaked because Emmeline Garwin didn't squeak) and twisted her body around. Sure enough there was Peace, his arm still outstretched from where she assumed she'd fallen asleep. She felt like shoving him off the bed but it was his and she was still trying to work out how he'd even let her fall asleep on him.

"Mom called Elijah when you fell asleep." He motioned to her cellphone, which was now on his nightstand, without opening his eyes. "Had a good laugh, apparently. She woke me up to tell me so."

She wasn't sure what was worse; Elijah having a laugh at it (and probably calling Dan and Maggie immediately so they could share in the mirth), Mae catching her asleep on her son (and just how did she get close enough to Peace for that to happen?), or the fact that it had happened at all. "Awesome." She muttered weakly.

Peace grabbed her arm and pulled her back till she was lying down again. "Go to sleep, Garwin. It's too damn early."

Emm blinked. She was still asleep, that had to be it. Too bad it didn't feel like a dream.

"Sleeping requires closing your eyes for most people and I'm pretty sure yours were closed earlier."

She smacked his chest and he grunted. "This is when I usually wake up anyways."

Warren took a deep breath and finally opened his eyes. "You're kidding, right?" There had to be something wrong with anyone who willingly woke up so early. Of course, he'd known there was something wrong with Garwin for years. "Fine."

He meant to sit up, however grudgingly, before realizing she was on his arm again. And, he couldn't even blame her because he'd been the one to pull her down. His arm was properly numb from her sleeping on it all night but he couldn't remember exactly when she'd ended up on him. She'd been further away when she'd fallen asleep and when he'd been woken by his clearly amused mother she'd still been far enough away that he wasn't too bothered.

This, he decided, was what he got for being a good person and just letting her sleep.

"You're on my arm." She was sitting up before he could finish the sentence. He sat up after her and rolled his shoulder. It was really just too damn early. He'd be completely willing to just let her sleep on his arm if it meant he got a little more sleep. "I can't believe you wake up this early." He yawned. "You're insane."

With that he stood, rustled through his closet and drawers, and left for the bathroom. Garwin fell into the very interesting category of most disliked person he'd put up with and still threaten someone over, so he wasn't about to just make her walk home. He'd shower and get ready for school (_too damn early_) and then drive her to her house so she could do the same. Still, he could have done the same thing in twenty minutes time and still have at least an hour before the bus came around.

Garwin was ridiculous.

He returned to his room to find she'd once again donned her gray jacket and was tying the laces of her boots. Her hair was wavier than it had been the night before and the loose ponytail she'd pulled it into at the base of her skull did little to control all the shorter strands that flew back when she sat up.

She turned to look at him, mouth already open for what he was sure was the beginning of some smart comment, then blinked and shut her mouth. It was a pleasant change. She cleared her throat and adjusted her jacket, but still said nothing.

He looked at her curiously. "There's an extra toothbrush for you on the counter."

She stood up suddenly and, with a stiff nod, skirted around him and out the door. It wasn't until he was pulling a shirt out of his drawer that he realized why she'd been so quiet. He laughed, really laughed, as he pulled the shirt on. It wasn't every day Emmeline Garwin was embarrassed into silence. He briefly entertained the idea of taking off his shirt every time she just would not shut up, but he figured that would get old fast.

Shirt in place, so as to no longer distract Garwin (he chuckled), he headed back to the bathroom. She was rinsing out her mouth and he leaned against the staircase banister right outside the bathroom while he waited. The bathroom light caught in her eyes as she straightened up.

"Your eyes are blue."

She looked at him as though he'd just pointed out that his walls were red. "Yes, they are." She spoke slowly, mockingly.

He shrugged and moved past her to hang up his towel. "I always thought they were brown."

Garwin leaned forward to get a better look at herself in the mirror. He couldn't say that he'd ever studied her, but he'd always been fairly certain her eyes were brown. Her brother's and mother's eyes were both a very light blue, but up until just now he had now he thought she'd inherited her eyes from her father. Like just about everything else. Even if Mr. Garwin hadn't been introduced as such he could have still picked him out to be her father without hesitation.

"They're just dark, but they're blue." She gave him a look. "Pay attention, Peace. I know what color _your_ eyes are."

"Hard as it may be to believe, Garwin, with that giant head of yours, not everyone pays that much attention to you." He was lying, she always drew attention. Be it because of some ridiculously bright yellow jacket, or a fight with him, or a loud expletive, or beating the Tin Man into the ground, Garwin was noticed. And she wasn't _unattractive._

She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Oi! Back to Earth, Peace." He slapped her hand away when snapped again. "Can we get a move on? I'd like to take a shower too."

She walked out of his bathroom like she owned it and he couldn't wrap his head around how she did things like that. The beginnings of another fight were building when they walked out the front door and he walked to the driver's side of the black '63 DeSoto parked on the curb. Like earlier, the words died on her lips.

The look in her eyes was one he generally associated with little kids who'd found a box of free puppies, then he remembered that Garwin was exactly the type of girl who got excited about cars. He could almost see the gears working in her brain and he feared for his car. "Stop molesting it and get in already."

She didn't even have the decency to look affronted over the gentle stroking she'd been giving the car and got in. She seemed perfectly content to stroke the inside of the car too and silence hung over them for a few minutes.

"It was my dad's."

Emm looked at him with mild surprise. He wasn't exactly forthcoming on most topics, much less his father. She gave the dashboard one last stroke. "He's got good taste."

There was a very solid, bold line that Garwin never _ever_ crossed; his father was forever off limits. Right from their first day at Sky High when he'd walked onto the altar in the gym and heard the kids around start whispering about just who he was she'd looked completely uninterested.

They'd gotten into their first fight that day too. He couldn't even remember why or how but he remembered one of the as of yet unsorted kids trying to pull her back to the lunch table, _"He's a hero and you have no powers! Don't you know who he is? That's Baron Battle's son."._ She'd yanked her arm free and declared to the whole cafeteria that his father could be god for all she cared.

If he was honest he'd say that was the reason he'd never really powered up with her, the reason he'd destroy Thompson if he got anywhere near her.

He was compelled to change the subject again and keep them talking, if only to keep himself awake. "Why the hell don't you have a car, Garwin?" It would have meant a good extra hour's sleep if she had.

"I do have a car." He sent her a dirty look but she was preoccupied with the car still. "It just doesn't run yet." She began stroking the upholstery now. "Well, that's not entirely true. It's a '95 Le Baron; Dad got it real cheap off a friend. It's kind of our pet project, we're going to make it fly."

He had to admit, a flying car was impressive. He still wasn't going to let her anywhere near the hood of his car.

* * *

Emm smirked deviously as she poked Peace's head with her straw, again. He'd been trying very hard to ignore her but she could see his arms beginning to smoke and that only amused her more. And Ethan's face was a thing of wonder; he made the best oh-god-here-they-go-again-please-don't-let-me-get-torched faces ever.

He'd been in an extra sour mood all day and she easily attributed that to having to wake up too early, which she would have felt bad for if he hadn't eaten all of her fries. Again. Maggie had shared her own, but that wasn't the point.

"Garwin, I swear to god..." He left the threat hanging and did his best not to look up from his book.

The smirk spread into a full grin and, very slowly and deliberately, she poked him again. The straw was out of her hand and half way across the cafeteria before she had a chance to blink. "You ruin all my fun, Peace." With a huff she looked down the table and decided to instead entertain herself with Elijah. "Integration." She muttered and they rolled their eyes.

"Seriously though, 'Lijah, we've talked about this, just go."

Elijah looked at her in surprise before realizing what she was talking about and tried to stave off the blush climbing up his neck. "No way, Emm, I changed my mind. I can't do it." He ducked his head and busied himself with his jello.

Dan and Maggie seemed to clue in at about the same time. Dan sighed. "This again, huh? Come on, 'Lij, you know she isn't going to drop this."

The others seemed to lean in to find out what it was that Elijah was so reluctant to do but they needn't wait long. Elijah was far too honest a person to really keep any secret of his own for long.

"Emm! Look at her, she probably already has a date."

Emm and everyone else, save Peace, turned to look even if they didn't know what they were looking for. Dan clarified that they were looking for Anna Golightly. Anna was a pretty sophomore flier with curly blonde hair and bright green eyes that Elijah had been smitten with for weeks now.

"If she already has a date I'll lock him in a box."

"She doesn't have a date yet." They all looked to Magenta who took another bite of her school lasagna. When she'd swallowed she elaborated. "Some kid asked her in the hall today and she turned him down, nicely."

Elijah sputtered a little at the expectant looks coming at him from all angles. "See, she's getting offers from everyone, why would she say yes to me?"

Emm let out a dramatic, world-weary, sigh and shoved aside her lunch to show this was serious business. Peace looked up expectantly. "Elijah James Garwin, you are brilliant and kind and have more of a sense of humor than most of the schmucks running around this place and, last I heard, girls are into that sort of thing." She held her hand up to stop him from interrupting. "You're my brother and as such I'm a little biased, but she'd have to be an idiot of epic proportions to turn you down."

She risked one last glance at Anna over her shoulder. "And if she does I'll rig the sprinklers to follow her around the school." There were a few chuckles but it was Maggie's disapproving face that let everyone know she was very capable of doing exactly that. "Look at that face, you are a Garwin! Who could turn that down?"

She kicked Peace under the table when he snorted. Elijah seemed motivated enough though and stood, before realizing what he was doing and looking at them in panic. Emm had inherited the majority of the bravado in the family, clearly. Eventually, Dan threatened to freeze him to Anna if he didn't go ask her already and he was forced to cross the cafeteria and face her.

The whole table, again save Peace, had turned or sat up to get a good look at them. Emm's careful observation was interrupted when she felt someone slide into the seat next to her. Surprised she turned to find Ryan Aarons smiling at her.

Ryan's face had almost completely healed and she'd finally begun to look at him without wishing she could crawl under a rock somewhere. He'd had a good few laughs at her expense in class and enjoyed the jokes of how much better he'd taken her abuse than Thompson, but she continued to feel guilty.

"Well, hello there."

"I need to ask you for a favor."

She snorted and pointed to his face. "After that you could ask me to marry you and I'd have to."

A "yes!" from her other side reminded her of Elijah and she swung back around to find her brother sauntering back over to the table with a wide grin. He looked like the cat that ate the canary.

Emm affected her own grin and winked at him as he sat back in his seat. After a few congratulations from the table she turned back to Ryan. "Sorry, Elijah just got a date."

Ryan's smile was still in place and she wondered how much it had hurt to smile in those first few days. "That's good, because I'm actually here to ask you to come to homecoming with me." He batted his eyes at her dramatically.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Didn't we talk about this? Weren't you going to man up?"

Ryan shrugged. "I'm a coward, what can I say? Rejection terrifies me."

Homecoming always had a habit of sneaking up on Emm when she wasn't expecting it. While other girls were buying their dresses and setting up their dates weeks in advance Emm had only been reminded of it earlier that morning when she'd finally gotten home from Peace's and spoken with Elijah. Now, with the dance just next week, the energy have begun to bubble and everyone had started to worry over the dates they didn't already have.

She made a face at him and pretended to ponder it for a moment. "Oh, alright. But, on one condition, you have to dance at least one dance with her. And if you get cat hair on my dress I'll kick you."

Emm had no problems with being Ryan's safety date. Maggie and Dan were already attending together, as per usual, and now Elijah had a date too. Emm had somehow always managed to score a date at the last minute but she'd never really bothered herself with it. Oftentimes it was just a friendly affair.

"You, Emmeline, are the best." With a hug he was gone.

Another dramatic sigh came out as she turned to face the others again. "Don't I know it." She kicked Peace harder when he snorted again.


	8. Chapter 8

I'm beginning to think I'm spoiling you guys. But, then again, you probably deserve it after how long it took me to update this. This one is a tiny bit shorter than the last few. The next chapter is homecoming but you'll have to wait for it. It's done, I just want to make you suffer a little. :] I'll be giving Warren some more time to lead the story too.

Also, is anyone interested in being a beta for this? If so, please PM me.

* * *

**Chapter 8-**

"Freedom feels good, I'll tell you that much." Emm stretched in her seat and adjusted herself to sit cross-legged.

"I thought you said you didn't mind detention since you figured out it made for a good workshop."

Having fulfilled the last of her assigned detentions Emm and Elijah had met with Dan and Maggie at the Rollings home and had been quickly herded into Ma Rolling's minivan. Ma claimed that a celebration was in order, but they suspected she just wanted Chinese food.

There was no such thing as a secret in the Rollings house and Ma had been aware of Emm's fight (if it could be called that) and the cause behind it the same day it happened. It just paid to be upfront with her. With a double whammy of super hearing and lie detection there was nothing they could get past her.

"Yeah, but I'd still rather not have to be in there. I have a workshop at home, after all." Car rides in Ma's van were always entertaining and every now and then they'd play to see how long they could get away with making one another believe a lie before Ma revealed them.

"I did make a friend though. He helped me hold together some bits while I welded them." There was a pause before they all turned to look at her. Emm gave them her patented confused look. "What?"

It was Dan who sighed. "You did welding in the Detention room?"

Emm shrugged. "I was safe and he was all for it. It was just a smidge." She'd taken the necessary gloves and mask from the Mad Science lab when she'd borrowed the welder. "I'm nearly done with it, guys, this close," she motioned with her fingers, "and if welding needs to be done then it will be done."

With a shake of their heads they all dropped the subject. The project, the nature of which Emm refused to speak of, had been Emm's greatest preoccupation for a month now. Even before school had started she'd been planning and plotting and gathering materials. None of them knew what it was exactly and they'd never seen it all together because she claimed it was easier to bring to school in bits, but they trusted she wasn't planning to take over the world.

Mr. Medulla seemed as excited about it as she was and, as usual, gave her free reign over materials. The four students in his private class all seemed to share the same ability to just borrow whatever they needed, but Emm was the only one who would suddenly be struck with brilliance and need things instantaneously. Dan had smiled and shook his head when she burst into his (and Peace's) Mad Science class room and quickly rambled about having figured out how to counteract the altitude problem before rushing into the back room and rolling a large metal crate out. Mr. Medulla was in a better mood for it and none of them could complain at the interruption.

Ma Rollings knew the ways of the Paper Lantern better than even Peace did, she suspected, and had carefully timed their arrival so they were too late for the lunch rush and too early for the dinner rush. She usually did when with the whole lot of them and Emm wondered if that was why she'd never seen Peace working, perhaps his shift started later.

They were greeted by the same hostess Emm had seen last time and Ma began a friendly conversation with her, clearly familiar with _everyone_ who worked at the Lantern. She led them to a booth and pulled up a chair for Elijah before taking a close look at Emm and rolling her eyes. When she was done taking their drink orders she rolled her eyes at Emm again and walked away.

It took her a moment to realize why. "Hey! No! I'm not here to see him!" She leaned over the side of the booth but their waitress had already gone. She groaned. "She thinks I'm a Warren Peace fangirl."

"I'll set her straight."

She blinked up at Peace when he began to set down their drinks. "Jesus, you're speedy." That, or their waitress was really fast. "But you really need to clear that up, she rolls her eyes at me every time she sees me."

Peace gave Ma and the others a polite nod of the head when Ma greeted him by name. "I'm not speedy, you're predictable. The only thing you _ever_ drink is Coke and you both," He tilted his head to where Maggie and Ma were sitting, "always order water."

He had a point. "I'll talk to her, though. I'm sure it drives you insane to be on the receiving end of an eye-roll."

Emm began to roll her eyes when she caught the expectant smirk on his face and stopped herself. "Oh, shut up. Feed us and go entertain your actual fangirls." She pointed to the doorway where a herd of girls she recognized as underclassmen had just walked in.

It was his turn to groan.

* * *

"Begin!"

Emm had never had anything against Save the Citizen, really, but being paired up with Peace meant she was called up far too often. So far they'd been called out as villains twice, which she always thought was easier than playing the hero, and he had managed to win for them all on his own. Well, she'd shoved Ryan Aarons a little, but was otherwise too afraid to hit him and he seemed content to just stay on the other side of the field.

This time they'd been paired against Robert Stonewall and Katie Lee as heroes. She had no real opinion of Robert, though she'd heard he wasn't exactly brilliant, but she decided that as long as she wasn't smacked with a boulder that she'd like him just fine. Katie was a bright girl who sat by the window in Hero Support and turned herself into mist.

Realizing that neither of them would have much of a role in the game they stood side by side against the plexiglass wall and chatted.

"So, how's Robert?"

"He's nice, you know. Really nice. He's not the brightest bulb in the box, but he always means well."

"That's good to hear. I guess that's another hero I won't have to worry about Maggie getting paired with. Might be nice to get him."

"What about Warren Peace?"

"What about him?"

"What's it like being his sidekick? Especially for you?"

"Annoying. Drives me up the wall half the time, I swear."

"Ladies! Do something!" They looked up at Coach Boomer with blank stares.

Emm shrugged and dispassionately shoved Katie's arm before giving two thumbs up in the general direction of the fight. "You're doing great!" She heard Katie laugh at her.

Coach Boomer realized nothing was going to happen with them and turned his attention back to the action.

Rather than start up their chat again Emm watched the fight. Save the Citizen was always a difficult game. Without the ability to fly you always had to try and figure out how to reach the citizen without getting shredded, and having someone fling rocks at you had to be distracting. Personally she would have just-

It was like a million light bulbs went off in her head and suddenly she was running across the gym to the shredder. She could have smacked herself for not having thought of it before. Katie was next to her in an instant.

"What are you doing?"

Emm waved her off and began circling the obnoxiously loud shredder, knocking on the metal as she went. She had to duck the boulder that flew past her and hit the whirring metal blades but didn't even notice when little bits of rock shrapnel stung her cheeks. With a grin she stepped back and kicked a specific part of the machine.

A little square dented in and she managed to pry it off, revealing the main control panel. Katie clued in beside her and turned into a mist to try and distract her. It stung at Emm's eyes and she coughed around it but continued working.

"I'm breathing you in! That's weird!"

Katie materialized beside and instead tried to pry her away physically. Glad that Katie was a tiny little thing Emm swung her arm around her neck and brought her down to her level, hoping she would be a little more manageable this way. In no time Emm found the small panel she needed to get at. The clock was ticking down, now faster than before it seemed, and she frowned when she realized she didn't have a screwdriver with her and certainly not one small enough.

She looked around for anything that could help, completely ignoring Peace and Robert on the other side of the machine. Katie's hair caught her eye and she plucked one of the bobby pins keeping it in place. Katie made a disgruntled noise but had otherwise stopped struggling.

Emm gnawed on the end of the bobby pin to remove the little plastic covering and spit it out in the other direction. Opening up the pin she stuck it into the little screws and turned. One, two, three screws were out and with time counting down she just wrenched the panel and last screw off, tossing them behind her.

The grin on her face almost hurt (probably from the bits of rock still in her cheeks) and she wrapped her fingers around the yellow and red wires. With six seconds left she ripped them from the machine and heard the whirring die down.

She could hear Coach Boomer sputtering behind her as she let Katie go. "Uh- I guess- Heroes win!"

Robert and Peace, who hadn't noticed her at all, looked up, surprised. Emm relished in the cocky grin she sent them and gestured to the now inactive shredder. She thought she saw Peace smile.

"Is that allowed?" Someone from the crowd shouted when the applause and cheering had died down some.

"Of course it's allowed!" Emm looked up at Mr. Medulla on the observation deck and couldn't help the surge of pride she felt when she saw him clapping away. "It's just that none of you ever use your brains!" He looked like Christmas had come early.

She felt Peace come around beside her before she saw him. He looked, dare she say it, impressed. "Not bad, Garwin."

Coach Boomer groaned above them. "I take it we won't be able to use the shredder again for a while?"

Emm had the decency to look sheepish when she shook her head and Boomer dismissed them to go change. The rest of the class, as in the whole school, was released in sections as usual. Once they were out of the gym Peace stopped her.

"You're cut everywhere."

The adrenaline had begun to wear off and she realized that her face did, in fact, sting like a bitch. She moved to touch her cheek but he caught her hand. "You'll just make it worse." Without further ado he turned her around and pushed her towards the nurse's office. He kept his hand on her back as he walked beside her like he thought she would try to bolt and continued to swat her hands away when she tried to touch her face.

"And stop making faces."

"It hurts, you ass."

"It's going to hurt more if you keep making faces."

"Oh, go to hell."

Nurse Spex _tutted_ at them when they entered her office and made some remark on the silliness of Save the Citizen. Immediately she sat Emm on the examination bed and wheeled over a set of tweezers and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

She winced every time Nurse Spex removed a bit of shrapnel but that only made it worse. Half way through the process she punched Peace in the arm to make herself feel better. He snorted, which she assumed was his way of laughing at her and she punched him again. In fact, she kept punching him every time another bit was removed and convinced herself it made it hurt less.

Sometime after her left cheek was done she'd closed her eyes, realizing it hurt just a little less like that, and so was caught completely off guard when Nurse Spex dabbed at her with the alcohol. The hand that was punching Peace's arm instead wrapped itself around it and squeezed. Emm hissed.

Nurse Spex gave her a sympathetic look and apologized lightly. "I'll be done in a second, don't worry."

Emm kept a tight hold on Peace and squeezed a little whenever it stung particularly bad. She distantly noted that he'd let her hit him repeatedly and was now suffering her grip without a single complaint.

"All done with the alcohol."

Emm opened her eyes and sighed in relief. Her face still stung but it was nothing compared to the alcohol. Still, she kept her hand wrapped around Peace's arm.

Nurse Spex pulled a small tub of cream from one of the cabinets. "It's a little salve, it should stop the stinging and help it heal better." It felt like heaven. Immediately all the little cuts felt cool and she wanted to bathe in the stuff. "You should be fine by homecoming."

Emm had forgotten all about homecoming. She knew the nurse was right though. As a whole supers healed better than the rest of the populace, some faster than others. By homecoming, in two day's time, she should be mostly healed.

Shoving the little tub into Emm's hands Nurse Spex shooed them out with a couple of excuse notes for class. Halfway down the empty hallway Peace moved his arm and Emm realized she was still holding onto it. She pulled her hand away like she'd been burnt, which was always a possibility with him, and gave him as best a smile she could.

"Thanks." He just shrugged, then smacked her hand away when she went to touch her face again. She sighed and gave him a look but shoved her free hand in her pocket. "So, how's it look?"

She hadn't seen her face at all and could only imagine what she looked like. She'd have to stop by the bathroom before returning to class.

He studied her from the corner of his eye for a moment before shrugging. "You'll be fine."

She rolled her eyes. She knew she'd be fine, they were only a few cuts. "Well, at least this will teach Ryan to ask me to homecoming instead of who he really wants. Now he'll have to deal with a mutilated date."

Beside her Peace huffed and gave her a shove. "Don't be stupid."

"Can't help it, I think you may be contagious."

"Is it possible for you to just be quiet for a few minutes? Maybe I should just douse you in alcohol."

"Oh, don't be such an ass."

"It would shut you up at least. My arm would suffer, but I wouldn't have to hear you go on."

"I'll show you suffer."

"I'm so scared. What are you going to do? Slather me in cream?"

"I'm cutting your breaks after school. Just you wait."

"I want you twenty feet away from my car at all times."

"Psh, I'll get to them while you're working."

"Garwin, one day I'm going to barbecue you."

"Empty threats, Peace, empty threats."


	9. Chapter 9

Alright, alright. I said I was going to make you guys wait, but I lied. I'm in a really good mood so I wanted to post this.

At last, Homecoming sans Royal Pain. Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 9-**

Homecoming had finally arrived. Every year there was a great big hubbub made over it (though last year's had been more of a let's-hope-we-don't-get-turned-into-babies-again thing), but never had Emm seen it so bad as this year. She figured it had something to do with being a senior because she knew that in the past three years even her most enthusiastic classmates hadn't made as big a deal over it as they were now. All she'd heard on Friday was talk of the dance and dates and dresses.

She was relieved when the day of the dance finally arrived and knew that after Monday's post-homecoming chatter ended the world would return to normal. Even with the madness she enjoyed herself while she and Maggie got ready.

Maggie looked resplendent in her wine colored cocktail dress and the permanent blush on her cheeks. She insisted she looked a little like a cupcake but Emm couldn't see anything wrong with that. Maggie had been, as always, late in getting to her house and getting ready but Emm's presence was enough to get her back on time. Somehow Emm had gotten her all set up with a good half hour to spare.

The door to Emm's room had been uncharacteristicly shut all night and Emm had refused to let neither Dan nor Elijah in until Maggie was ready. Maggie had always been a little rubbish when it came to hair and it fell upon Emm to pull her reddish-brown hair into a pretty little up-do. Emm herself had been ready a good hour ago and had only needed Maggie to do her makeup. Maggie had insisted.

When the last bobby pin was set in place Emm stepped back and admired her handiwork. Her best friend looked marvelous and she knew her other best friend would think so as well. Dan and Maggie had been subtly skirting each other for years now but Emm figured Dan would eventually have to make his move.

"Look at you. You look stunning."

Maggie turned in her seat and smiled at her. "You think so?"

"Oh, absolutely. Mags, you look gorgeous." She held up a mirror so she could see her hair. "You'll need me to beat them off of you. Or, you know, Dan could do it."

She loved watching the blush creep up to her cheeks. "Actually, Dan might not be of much use, he'll be too stunned by your beauty to see anything else." Maggie was almost entirely red now.

"You'll be too busy fighting off your own boys to worry about mine." Maggie leaned down to adjust the straps of her heels and smiled widely at her. "You look awesome."

Emm looked past Maggie at her mirror. She'd chosen a pale butter yellow for this year's dress but it was really the skirt that she liked. She fingered the hem of her dress fondly and smoothed it out. The dress fell from above her knee on one side to the floor without her heels, which where a matching strappy pair that she'd yet to put on.

While Maggie grabbed her purse Emm leaned forward to look more closely at the mirror. She'd been right about her cuts, they'd mostly disappeared and the one or two that remained where hidden with makeup. Her eyes definitely looked blue too, thanks to Maggie's skillful hand with an eyeshadow brush. She'd like to see Peace miss that now. Not that she cared.

With some final spritzes of perfume they were set to go. On cue there was a knock at her bedroom door. She knew it could only be Elijah because she'd given Dan very specific instructions to stay downstairs.

Sure enough Elijah was standing at her door, looking flustered and fumbling with his tie. Emm smiled fondly at him and waved his hands away while she straightened out his light blue tie.

"You guys are ready then?"

Maggie gave a chipper "yep" behind her, popping the 'p' and slid in beside Emm, holding her forgotten yellow heels in her hands.

'Lijah gave them both a brilliant smile and stepped back when Emm was done with his tie to look at them. "You look great. Both of you."

"And so do you. Anna won't know what hit her." Her brother flushed and smiled at her.

"Let's hope so. Put on your heels and let's get this party on the road."

Heels safely in place Emm ushered Elijah down the stairs first and heard their mother cooing at him in a way she was sure was making Elijah blush as brightly as Maggie. After Elijah was all the way down she turned to Maggie and insisted that she not come down until she was all the way down as well, there was no way she was missing Dan's face.

The heels were a little taller than what she was used to, but she managed to keep her balance all the way down with only a little work. The cooing began again and she smiled at her mom. She was surprised to find a camera in her hands and was momentarily blinded by the flash. Dan gave her a little hug and pulled at one of her curls.

"You look great."

"Wait till you see Mags."

His eyes immediately moved to the staircase and Emm's face split into a wide grin when his jaw dropped a little. Emm slid away from him and moved to stand next to 'Lijah, who gave her a knowing look.

Maggie's blush was in full force and she couldn't bring herself to look at Dan directly for a good few minutes, even when he complimented her. Repeatedly.

An excessive number of photos were taken by both her mother and father before they were allowed out of the house. Emm smiled fondly at the three love-sick saps in front of her and gave her parents one last hug before following them out.

Ryan lived just down the street with his father and was already at the bus stop when they arrived. He looked dashing in his suit and Emm wolf-whistled as they joined him. "Well, damn, look at you." The hugged briefly and he laughed. His face had fully healed by now and he was as boyishly handsome as ever. "You're a dolt for not asking her."

"Oh, but you look beautiful. I'll ask her to dance, like we agreed, but if she says no I'll still have a great date." He looped his arm around her's and turned to Maggie. "And you, Mags, wow. Dan, you'll have to beat them off her."

Emm laughed. "Exactly what I said." All the hype and endless chatter was worth it when she was assured a great time with such excellent friends.

"Thankfully, you can beat them off yourself." Ryan gave her a look. "You could always just break their jaws." He laughed when she shoved him into the road.

* * *

Warren had to wonder how he always got conned into coming to these dances. He blamed Layla and her hippie ways. She made it hard to say no.

His bus had arrived a little late and it took him a moment to locate everyone through the crowd. Apparently they were sharing a table with Garwin's friends again and he realized she'd been onto something with her integration bit.

Layla smiled and waved when she spotted him. "Warren!" She was too enthusiastic about the whole thing. She grabbed his arm and pulled him along to their table before moving next to Will. She looked nice in her bottle green dress and he had to admit Will had put in some effort. They all looked alright, actually even if the glowworm better known as Zach was still dressed far too brightly.

He could only imagine the blinding yellow Garwin would show up in. He looked around the table quickly but saw no sign of her. Patterson and Maggie were sitting and chatting with Magenta and he nodded to both of them, but there was no Garwin. Elijah returned to the table hand in hand with Anna who looked quite happy.

"Hey Warren."

He nodded. "Hey." He gave the room another quick glance before determining that Garwin wasn't anywhere to be found. "Where's your sister?"

Ryan Aarons came up beside him holding a cup of punch. "She had an epiphany of the scientific sort." He laughed. "She's probably in the Mad Science room." He looked anxious and kept glancing at a blonde girl at the next table.

Warren nodded, unsurprised.

"You're kind of late, what happened?" The hippie grinned at him and took a sip of her own punch. "You missed four songs already."

He gave her a look that clearly stated he wasn't too worried about that but shrugged. "Bus was late."

Aarons set his cup down on the table and squared his shoulders. "Mags," Maggie looked up at him, "if Emm doesn't get back in time to see this, vouch for me alright."

Maggie grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up. "You can do it, Ry. Remember that Emm will be very cross if you don't get that dance." Patterson laughed beside her.

"Alright. Alright. I can do this. If I don't do this, I suffer Emm." With a few deep breaths Aarons strolled over to the next table and began speaking with the blonde.

"Hey, Warren." He looked over to Maggie. "Could you please see if you can find Emm?" She gave him a shy smile and he realized that the ability to make it impossible to refuse wasn't the hippie's alone. "I'd go, but she'd give me a lecture about missing the dance. Which is a little hypocritical, isn't it?"

Elijah laughed. "Yeah, but that's Emmy."

With a sigh Warren nodded. "I'll find her. Mad Science, right?"

They all nodded and, after Layla told him to hurry back, he left.

The Mad Science room wasn't far from the gym and once he'd gotten far enough away from the music he could hear the scrape of a chair and knew she'd be the only person who would escape there during a dance. He leaned against the door frame and made to knock against the open door but stopped.

Garwin wasn't wearing a blinding yellow number like he'd assumed but instead a pale satin dress that pooled around her where she was kneeling on a table. He had no idea what it was she was working on but her arms were buried deep within it with what he assumed was a wrench by the sound.

Her hair was pulled away from her face by some sparkly clip and curled as it fell down her back. The dress, he realized, criss-crossed and laced up in the back and he found himself following the yellow ribbons with his eyes. She moved, coming off of one knee to get a better look inside the machine.

He cleared his throat and knocked on the door finally. She jumped a little and looked at him. Her eyes were definitely blue.

"Maggie sent me to look for you. And Aarons wanted to make sure you knew that he was asking some blonde to dance."

She smiled. "Damn straight he is. Stupid boys not asking the girls they like to dances." She shifted again and her dress moved to reveal its asymmetrical cut.

Emm gave a bolt one final turn before pulling her wrench away. "How many dances have I missed? I danced the first one." She reached inside to shift a set of wires. When he didn't answer immediately she looked over at him.

He was pointedly not looking at her and she looked down to make sure everything was fine. Her dress was in place and, despite showing a bit of leg, she was perfectly decent.

"Hippie says I've missed four so I guess you've missed three." He was still not looking at her.

She looked around in confusion. Nothing was wrong anywhere and there was absolutely nothing interesting where he was looking. He was acting like she had when- Her eyebrows shot up. He was acting like she had when he'd walked in shirtless.

She almost laughed but managed to keep it to a silent snort. Was it her leg? A leg was hardly equal to a bare chest. And she'd worn skirts before. No matter what it was, it was funny.

"Oi, Peace." He finally turned to look at her. "You alright there? You looked a little distracted."

He cleared his throat. "I'm fine." She grinned deviously when she realized he was now pointedly only looking at her face. "What is that thing?"

She gave her baby one last look before replacing the top panel and stroking its side. "It's a secret. I'm almost done with it." She slid one leg off the table to balance herself before sliding off fully. He was looking out the door now. She snickered to herself.

"Well, let's go before Mags comes looking for me herself." Now that he was beside her he seemed to return to normal.

"I don't know how you can manage to always be with her." She shot him a demanding glance and stopped walking. He sighed and clarified. "I meant, it's kind of impossible to disagree with her, or deny her anything."

Emm laughed. It was extremely comforting to know Maggie had the same affect on Peace. She knew he could be trusted with her and she wouldn't be opposed to having them be paired off if need be. Except for the constant Save the Citizen challenges.

"Yeah, Mags does that. I think the only time I didn't do as she asked was when I beat Thompson into the ground." He nodded and she looked at him closely for the first time. She sighed and stopped walking again.

When he stopped to look at her she turned him and pushed him against the lockers. "Wha-"

"Your room is spotless but you look a mess in a suit." She shook her head at him and began to undo his tie. He shrugged but made no move to stop her.

"I don't even know why I'm here half the time."

"Layla." She slid the tie off and slung it over her shoulder before straightening out his collar. "She's got that Maggie vibe. I bet she talked you into it."

"Damn them."

She chuckled and slipped the tie back over his head. Her room might be constantly cluttered with engine bits and high powered oscillators, but she was something of a stickler for neat clothing. He looked nice, in any case. Even with a messy tie his and his dress shirt partly untucked he didn't look bad. Once she was done with him though his fangirls would be swooning all around. Satisfied with his tie she smoothed out the lapels of his jacket.

"God, Peace, must you always be so obnoxiously warm?" She could practically feel him roll his eyes at her as she moved her hands to his shoulders.

"Maybe you're just always cold." He brought his hands up to her shoulders and he felt more than warm against her bare skin. "Yep, you're just freezing."

She cleared her throat and wasn't sure why the nervous tick came up before stepping back. "Nope, that's Dan. He's the ice man around here. Tuck your shirt in."

He watched her for a moment before doing as she said. Emm looked down the hall. She could hear the song change from where she stood and figured they should probably be getting back soon. He sighed when he was done and she looked back at him.

She'd been right. Warren Peace cut a nice figure in a suit and she smiled. "Better." She adjusted his right lapel again. "Now I can feed you to your fans."

He shoved her away with a huff but caught her before she could trip over her heels.

* * *

The dance was at least half over by this point and Warren had managed to avoid dancing with almost anyone. Layla had insisted and soon afterward so had Maggie. He suspected Garwin had something to do with that.

She had been quite the opposite. She had danced with everyone. Patterson, Elijah, Aarons, Will, Glowworm, Popsicle, Ted Jones, Robert Stonewall, Maggie, Layla, Magenta, Logan Ayers, Juliette (yes, she'd even danced with his ex-girlfriend), Katie Lee, etc... He didn't know how she did it. Her heels looked painful even when she was siting.

She dropped into the seat beside him with a huff. Her face was flushed. He imagined the dance floor was a bit warm with so many people.

"You know, Peace, the point of a dance is to dance." He gave her a look and continued to drink his punch. Until she took it from him. "Too lazy to get up."

He watched her drink it with a raised eyebrow. When she was done he snatched the now empty cup and set it on the table. They were the only ones not dancing right now.

"Don't give me that look, you eat my fries every day. Least you could do is share some punch."

"You're too lazy to get punch but not to dance twenty songs in a row?"

"Conservation of energy, Peace."

She poked his shoulder. "So, why aren't you dancing?"

With a sigh he turned his chair to better face her. "Do I look like I do much dancing?"

She smiled a little and shook her head. "Don't be so selfish. Look over there." She subtly pointed to a table against the wall where a red haired girl was sitting with her friends. "She's been watching you all night. I bet she's just too shy to ask you to dance."

"That's nice for her." She swatted his head. "I'm not going to dance."

"You danced with Maggie and Layla."

"A lion would have to dance with them if they asked."

She snorted but Emm knew he was right. Sensing the end of the current song she stood up. "Alright, up." He looked at her but didn't move. She rolled her eyes and tugged on his arm. "Let's go, you're dancing this next one with me."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I said so, that's why." She gave him another tug and finally, with a sigh that suggested she was asking him to jump off a cliff, he got up.

"Will you leave me alone if I do?"

She pondered this for a moment. "No, probably not."

He gave the same snort she'd realized was his way of laughing without laughing and let himself be pushed out onto the dance floor. Stupid boys. She smiled at Layla as they passed.

The song ended only seconds later and was replaced by a much slower one. She groaned. Still, when he tried to move past her she caught his arm and kept him in place. "Oh no, you're going to dance."

She crossed her wrists over one another behind his neck and waited for him to move into position as well. The tips of his fingers reached past the end of her dress and brushed against her bare back. She swallowed.

"Exactly what happens when you have a fever, Peace?" Just because they were dancing didn't mean she had to be nice. "Does the thermometer just explode?"

"I stand by the fact that you're too cold. You've been spending too much time with Patterson."

"_My_ body temperature is perfectly normal. I'm not the one who periodically bursts into flames here, you know."

"I still think you're exaggerating."

She could feel him heating up and glared at him. "I'm not exaggerating in the least. And if you burn my dress I will bash your head through a wall." She felt his temperature drop back to normal, well, normal for him. "Remind me to use you when winter comes along."

"I'm not a fireplace, Garwin."

"Not intentionally, I'm sure. But after I piss you off enough I'll be able to bask in the warmth."

"Warmth which is too warm now."

"The dance floor isn't exactly a winter wonderland."

"You're going to have to find yourself another personal heater, Garwin. You're getting nothing from me."

"You say that now, just you wait. I'll have a heater and the never ending joy of driving you insane."

"I'm going to chuck you off the side of the school one day."

"Mhm. Keep telling yourself that. Your day would feel so empty without me."

"If by empty you mean wonderful, then yes."

"I'm not worried. I have a nice plan in place for if you ever decide to back up your threats. I die, every girl in the school gets your address."

"... You know, I really hate you."

"Yep. Me too."


	10. Chapter 10

Okay, another chapter for you guys. And, just so you know, I love your reviews. They make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Most of this one is from Warren's POV, but Emm will probably take center-stage again in the next one.

* * *

**Chapter 10-**

The chill wind bit at her bare legs and she tried to tuck them into her hoodie. She'd worn her favorite yellow shorts in an effort to make the most of the last warm days before fall set in, but nature had decided to have a laugh at her and made it especially cold. A shiver ran through her.

"Whose stupid idea was this anyway?"

Peace smirked at her from his seat in the grass beside her. She bet he didn't even feel the cold, bastard. "Maggie and hippie."

That was right. So, of course, they'd been unable to refuse. At the insistence of the two of them they'd all relocated to the courtyard for lunch (except for Elijah who'd been asked to sit with Anna and her friends). They'd have to watch out for the pair of them, they could take over the world just by asking.

Apparently Emm had missed a memo of some sort because everyone else was wearing jeans and seemed to not be bothered by the cold. Well, Dan would never be bothered by the cold, he probably relished in it. And Peace had his stupid body heat to keep him warm.

"Hey, Peace," He looked at her. "You're an OCD, temperamental, little girl."

He blinked. "What?"

"You heard me. You're a little girl. And when you're not a little girl you're a giant douchebag." Emm had to try and keep from smiling if she wanted this to work. "I don't know how you can live with yourself."

His face remained impassive.

"I wonder if your wear a frilly little apron while you tidy up your room. I bet you dress like a French maid, just for kicks." The image was now permanently imprinted in her mind and she was sure she'd have a good laugh or two at it later.

"It's not going to work, Garwin."

She huffed. A good argument would have heated him up and she would have soaked it up. "I'm your partner, you're supposed to keep me warm." She turned to pout at where the others were playing with the ice balls Dan had created.

He scoffed. "Not for long."

Emm looked over and studied him for a moment, noticing he'd raised his temperature for her anyway. This would be their last week as partners and come Monday morning they'd all be in the gym again, waiting for their next assignments.

She smiled a little. "Yep, you won't have to put up with me for much longer now."

They fell into an easy silence and Emm pulled her legs from her hoodie, satisfied in the warmth he was giving off. It hadn't been so bad. When they'd first been paired off she'd moaned and groaned and complained and imagined a world in which they finally came to blows and destroyed the school. Instead she found that some of their arguments had turned teasing. In fact, most of them had. He wasn't even taking her seriously when she called him a little girl.

She would have to do something to remedy it. Later.

* * *

He went to her booth before Christine had a chance to tell him his "girlfriend" was back again. He set the glass down in front of her and raised an eyebrow. "You know, it doesn't matter how many times I tell her you're not a fangirl if you keep showing up."

She huffed up at him but immediately busied herself with opening her straw. "Why can't I just eat Chinese food without it being all about you?" She rolled her eyes while she drank.

She'd come in right around the dinner rush but he figured he could spare a moment before Christine seated someone else in his section. "What are you doing here? I figured the Garwin's were the family dinner sort." The Garwin's immediately gave off the impression of keeping few secrets and generally being open with each other and the rest of the world.

"We are. Just not when mom's locked herself away to paint and dad is on the verge of a breakthrough. Then we kind of forget to eat." She was already half done with her glass. "And, 'Lijah is out with Anna so I thought I'd feed myself."

He pulled her glass away before she could finish it all. It was almost impressive how she could drink so quickly but he knew it only meant he'd have to keep bringing her new ones. "Can't cook?"

She frowned at him and pulled her glass back but didn't drink. "I can make anything if I have a recipe, but not when dad's taken over the kitchen as a temporary workshop. He does that."

He nodded, wondering what it was about the Garwin's and their ability to completely forget everything else when inspiration hit. He caught Christine's eye and she gave him a look, signaling to the family that had just walked in.

Garwin seemed to catch on and handed him her menu. "Beef and broccoli, and an order of crab rangoon. Thanks."

Lei brought her order out to her but he wasn't sure how many times he'd had to refill her glass. He was fairly convinced no normal person could hold so much liquid. Each time he came around with her drink she'd start some sort of argument that would last only as long as he could get away from Christine's glare. It would be forgotten by the time he came back around.

By the time he brought around her umptillionth glass the rush crowd had mostly filed out. There was only one other person seated and they were just starting their chow mien. Making sure Christine was in the back he sat down across from her.

"How do you drink all that?"

"It's an addiction." She told him, matter-of-factly. "So, is it just me or does that Christine lady really hate me?"

He peered over the side of the booth to make sure she was still in the back. She couldn't really say anything because they only other person wasn't even sitting in his section, but still. "She just thinks you're one of the others."

Garwin scoffed. "I can't believe anyone would think that." She looked deeply affronted. "So, what? She thinks I'm moving in on her territory?"

He made a face at her and she laughed. "You can be so stupid."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not the one who hasn't noticed that the only other person in here can hardly take her eyes off you." He turned and she kicked him under the table. "Don't be so obvious, you idiot."

Ignoring her he looked over to the only other patron. She seemed to be studiously contemplating her chow mien but he saw her eyes flit over then back. She looked mildly familiar but he couldn't figure out where he recognized the short blonde bob from.

"She's a sophomore sidekick. I've seen her talking to 'Lijah." He turned back around to face Garwin who was idly playing with her straw. "She's been watching you since she sat down, and you didn't even notice. Poor girl."

He studied Garwin for a moment while she watched the girl. Until now he'd thought his "fangirls", as she called them, were a source of amusement for her, something she threatened him with for a laugh. Now she looked sorry for the girl. She sighed and shook her head.

"Well, what do they expect? They watch and watch and don't make a single move. What is it with everyone and not having the guts to go after what they want?"

He shrugged at her. "I'd like it if they all just left."

She blinked at him while she drank. "Well, what would you prefer: Warren Peace, dream bad boy boyfriend of underclassmen girls, or most likely to become a villain?"

He scoffed. "I wasn't aware there was a distinction." Half the girls who would have fallen under Garwin's fan category were still afraid that he'd become a villain just like his father. He wondered if she hadn't yet realized that _that_ was why they never approached him.

When she gave him the confused look he now recognized as solely hers he furrowed his brow. "You don't think they all just decided I wasn't going to be a villain after homecoming, do you?"

The look remained.

"You're kidding me." He leaned back and let out a humorless laugh. "Jesus, Garwin." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the blonde. "_She_ probably still thinks I'll end up like my father. Most people do."

"That's stupid."

Something about the way she said it, the plain conviction, made him smile. "You really haven't noticed? You probably just assumed that everyone thought like you after homecoming. Kind of arrogant of you." He joked.

She was silent for a moment and he decided that was exactly what had happened. She had never seen him as a villain and figured homecoming had been proof enough for everyone else.

"They've clearly never met your mother." She pushed her glass aside and shot the girl a look. "There's no way in hell you could turn into a villain with a mother like her." As if she decided the conversation had become too solemn for her taste her entire countenance changed. "You'd make a rubbish villain."

"You'd be the first person I took out."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Wouldn't be that hard, I'd roast you before you had a chance to get angry."

"And then I'd come back and haunt you forever and slowly drive you insane. Until dad killed you with your DeSoto, then I'd just make your afterlife more of a hell than it already would have been."

The image of having his car slowly come down around him till he was crushed made him wince more than the thought of being haunted. He always seemed to forget that her father could kill a man for having too much iron in his blood. He pitied anyone who even considered hurting Garwin, just a little.

"So..." She drew out the 'o', "Last day stuck with one another, technically."

Tomorrow after lunch they'd all be hoarded back into the gym and assigned new partners. To be honest, outside of Garwin, Maggie was the only other senior sidekick he really knew. Aarons seemed alright, but Warren hadn't had much interaction with him.

When Principal Powers had called out his name after Garwin's he'd wholeheartedly agreed with the loud "shit" she'd let out. They're relationship (or whatever it really was) had always been antagonistic in one way or another and he _knew _that she got a kick out of riling him up. Of course, he hadn't been any better. He could have always tried to ignore her, no matter how hard that could be, but instead he'd fed right into any spat they could have.

And he may have started a few as well.

The first day of sophomore year, after spotting Will Stronghold for the first time, he'd sought her out in the hallway and purposely, and none too gently, brushed past her shoulder. That had been enough to set her off and, for a while, he'd felt better. Garwin was the perfect person to let steam off on.

The past month hadn't been so bad though. So far he'd only admitted as much to Will, but as far as partners went he knew Garwin would have been the best choice. Even with the bickering that was bound to happen he could always trust that Garwin wasn't afraid of him, at all, and that made her something of a rare breed among the sidekicks of Sky High.

"Oi!" She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Where the hell do you keep going? You're kind of dreamy lately, aren't you?"

He slapped her hand away. "I was just thinking about how great it will be to be rid of you finally."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, I'll be glad when I don't have to put up with you anymore." She smiled and he knew she was lying.

He fingered the unwrapped fortune cookie in front of her. "I've been counting down the days."

"My calendar has a lovely red circle over tomorrow. I'm so excited."

"I think I might throw a party."

"Mags and I are baking a cake to celebrate."

"I've considered throwing a parade."

"I think a parade is in order, but I'd be the one throwing it- Hey! That's my cookie!"

He sent her a slow smile while he ate her fortune cookie and glanced down at her fortune. _Embrace the unexpected and you'll be pleasantly surprised._


	11. Chapter 11

So, I can blame moving and working twelve hours a day or not having internet, but it doesn't change the fact that I haven't posted in a million years. But, in celebration of my returning interwebs, A CHAPTER! And the next one is in the works. It's a little short, but more shall come.

* * *

**Chapter 11-**

Emm wasn't sure what she had thought would change.

When she'd gotten off the bus in the morning she'd been entertained by a lover's spat between Magenta and Zack, the first she'd ever witnessed. Will assured her it wasn't out of the ordinary but it was nowhere as common as Peace and her fighting. She'd sided with Zack but smartly kept it to herself.

In the halls between class she'd been pleased to see Peace chatting with Maggie (and Maggie free of blushes or fear). He shoved her as she walked by and she easily shoved him right back. At lunch Will had immediately made room for her in her, apparently, given spot in front of Peace. She knew integration had been inevitable once they sat down. Peace had eaten her fries and she'd kicked him under the table while he avoided her threatening spork. Nothing had changed.

When the final lunch bell rang the non-seniors of their respective gangs (or were they one gang now) sent them off with good lucks and smiles and they filed into the gym like they'd done a month ago and waited for Principal Powers. The only real difference this time around was that Peace had elected to sit with them.

Maggie's nerves had returned full force and she'd been moved from her original spot beside Peace to her usual in between Emm and Dan. Their reassurances came much like they had the first time around, but Emm could now count of Principal Powers to think better when pairing Maggie. Last time they'd ignored everything but their own names, this time they kept close attention on every duo called out.

"Bethany Ackles, and Marcus Mathews." Dan sent an encouraging smile to Marcus a row above them. Bethany was a demanding girl and a hydrokinetic, but Dan had always said she was nice. "Ryan Aarons and Andrew Thompson." Emm grimaced for Ryan's sake. "Logan Ayers..."

Emm looked around the gym and immediately spotted Logan's unruly brown head of hair. She hadn't had much interaction with Logan Ayers in her four years at Sky High until she' landed herself a week's worth of detentions. His eagerness to help her weld together a few bits of her project and his honest interest in it had immediately endeared him to her and she'd found he was actually rather funny too.

"And Emmeline Garwin."

When it registered that she'd been paired with her welding buddy she grinned and pumped her fist. "Yes!" It was nowhere near as loud as her reaction last month, but it still caught the attention of the few seated around them.

Logan turned in his seat and spotted her, hard not to in her favorite brilliant yellow jacket, before grinning and giving her a thumbs up.

Peace gave her a sideways look. "I didn't know you and Ayers were such good friends."

Maggie and Dan gave her similar looks. They knew of her welding excursion in the detention room, but she hadn't really gone into any specifics. Sure, she'd danced with him at Homecoming, but she'd danced with lots of people then. "That's my welding buddy." Maggie and Dan took a moment but finally realized what she was referring to and nodded. Peace was not so lucky.

"He was in detention a lot. He helped me put together a bit of my project."

"Warren Peace." Their heads shot up to look at Principal Powers but she had moved on.

Maggie leaned over Emm's lap to look at Peace. "You got paired up with Ian Jacobsen." She looked less worried with the seemingly acceptable pairings so far. Only her and Dan were left among their little group (she could hardly believe he had become part of her group).

His blank look told Emm he had no idea who Ian Jacobsen was. It wasn't hard to imagine as Jacobsen had never really even drawn her attention. "He's alright." She pointed out an anxious looking curly haired boy a few rows down and to their left. "I think he's a good student, but I don't really know much about him."

He nodded at her but seemed uninterested otherwise. For a moment she hoped Jacobsen was only anxious over being paired up and not over Peace. She hadn't yet been able to wrap her head around the fact that most people still considered him a future villain in the making.

The pairings so far seemed quite smart to Emm. She knew Ryan wouldn't take any of Thompson's crap and it was well known that he was friends with Emm, and Juliette (or Freeze-girl as she was sometimes known) had been paired with Katie Lee which she realized was actually a brilliant meshing of their personalities. Principal Powers was clearly bringing her A game.

"Daniel Patterson." Maggie tensed beside her and Emm straightened up to give Principal Powers a very pointed look. She had been doing so well, she couldn't let them down now. "Maggie Rollings."

"Yes!" Maggie jumped in her seat at Emm's exclamation but looked too pleased to really care. Principal Powers returned her pointed look and Emm couldn't help but smile at her. Powers had wormed her way back into Emm's good graces. None of the other pairings really mattered. She did note that Robert Stonewall was the unlucky (depending on how you saw it) hero who'd gone sidekick-less this time around.

As they filed out to the courtyard to meet with their new partners Maggie was ecstatic. Her excitement was contagious and Emm was hard pressed to wipe the grin off her face. Dan looked rather pleased himself. Even Peace, it seemed, was being caught up in the happy storm that was Maggie Rollings.

When an arm landed hard around her shoulders she stumbled and had to thank Peace for catching the back of her shirt. She looked up into Logan's grinning face.

"Oops. Sorry about that." Logan adjusted his arm around her to accommodate Peace's hold on her shirt while she straightened up. "So, should I invest in an arc welder for the duration of our partnership?"

His eagerness made her smile. Her friends were usually willing to help with whatever new experiment or project she was working on, but few had been quite as excited as Logan was. "No need. I have near full access to Mr. Medulla's stores and with you around I can't imagine I'll be lacking anything." Logan had the very useful ability to duplicate and control just about anything and Emm could already see the benefits of his power.

Logan towered over her, even more so than Dan and Peace, and she had to crane her neck to look at him straight on. He looked over her head to Dan, Maggie, and Peace and nodded his head to each of them. "So, Peace, anything I should know about being her hero? Any tips you can divulge? I could tell you a few things about Ian, seeing as how we kind of just traded partners."

Peace raised an eyebrow at Logan and she realized for the first time just how close he was standing. With Logan's arm still around her she was caught in between them and she nearly felt like an Emm sandwich. And Peace was really very warm.

"She's a pain in the ass. Don't let her near your car, don't let her meet your mother, don't ask her about music, and don't let her hold any drinks." With that, he walked away.

Emm had the decency to look insulted. "Hey! Bring Jacobsen over and I'll give him a nice little lesson too!" She shot Maggie and Dan a look at their laughter. "Traitors."

* * *

Hero Support 101.4, as taught by Mr. Boy, had always been an interesting class. Well, maybe not on the days where they learned proper grappling hook maintenance or things of the sort, but Mr. Boy was energetic and fun and he never minded when Emm suddenly needed to go to Mr. Medulla's class. Today he had given them the job of organizing a proper utility belt, which every single one of them could do blindfolded at this point, and let them chat amongst themselves about their new heroes.

Maggie's good mood remained in tact and it was only helped along by Emm's. Principal Powers really had done well this time. She'd spent some time talking to Katie and assuring her that Juliette and her would get along great before making Ryan promise that he'd let her have a go at Thompson if he so much as mentioned Maggie.

When Ian Jacobsen passed by their table Emm leaned back in her seat to catch him. "Hey, Ian," He looked startled and once again nervous. "Want a few tips on dealing with Peace?" She was still a little sore over his "tips" to Logan. When he didn't answer she took it as a yes.

Righting herself in her chair she scooted it back to get a good look at him. "Alright, he's a pain in the ass of epic proportions. He'll eat your fortune cookie or throw it at your head, he'll eat your fries, his taste in music is questionable, he's a neat freak, he's selfish with his car, he complains about when you wake up, he complains about how much you drink, he complains about the engine parts in your room- wait, that wouldn't really matter to you-"

Maggie put her hand on Emm's knee and she realized the others were laughing. "Emmy, those aren't really tips, they're complaints."

Emm blinked at her. "But, they're perfectly valid complaints." Ryan snorted and was set off into peal of laughter. Which set Katie off as well. "Oh, alright."

"When you visit his house you suddenly feel like nothing could go wrong in the world and you find you can't argue with anyone, that's his mom trying to make you feel at home, don't be alarmed. If you're cold and want him to power up so you start arguing with him, he'll catch on, it won't work." She tapped a finger to her chin as she thought. "Don't molest his car, he doesn't like that."

She was trying very hard to come up with actually useful tips to give Ian as opposed to the crap tips he'd given Logan. "Don't leave a jacket lying around his room, he'll give you dirty looks all day. If you go see him at the Paper Lantern try to not be seated by Christine- though, it might not be the same with you because you're a boy, or maybe she'll think you're gay." She trailed off, wondering exactly how Christine would react to a boy asking for Peace.

Ryan and Katie were still laughing and Maggie had rejoined in the fun. When she looked up at Ian's face she realized why. He had somehow managed to appear terrified while looking at her as though she'd sprouted a new head and was now singing "Camptown Races". She patted his arm. "You know what, I think you'll be fine."


	12. Chapter 12

**I swear, I'm about to fall asleep right here. I needed to finish this, though. I lost a little part of this and had to rewrite it and I no longer like it as much, but it must go up. This one is entirely Warren centered and not very long. Here it is! Now, I must sleep.**

**

* * *

Chapter 12-**

"No. I will not stand for you eating my breakfast too."

"Shut up, Garwin."

Her pout and crossed arms would have put a five year old to shame. Dressed in a butter yellow sweater with her hair all around her she really looked like a sullen little girl. It only made the mixed berry Poptart that much sweeter.

"The one day I don't eat my breakfast at home it gets eaten by Peace. That'll teach me."

Aside from a comforting, if halfhearted, pat on the leg from Maggie, she was ignored. The group as a whole had learned to ignore them both when one of them started up. They had even gone so far as to angle themselves away from the two so as not to encourage them any further. Dan and Maggie were already planning their respective dinners at each others' houses (not that it was necessary in the least) and occasionally joining the rest in helping Zack with his history homework.

With one last glare Garwin punched his arm and turned away. Warren would have been lying if he'd said that wasn't the whole reason he'd taken the Poptart to begin with. Hell, he didn't even really like that flavor, but annoying Garwin was one of the highlights of his day.

"Logan!"

Warren looked across the courtyard to see Ayers waving back enthusiastically. They had been partners no more than two days and already Ayers spent all his time with her (when he wasn't in detention). It wasn't so much that it annoyed Warren as it confused him. He'd been spending an inordinate amount of time with her, yes, but their friends had integrated.

Ayers had never, in the four years that Warren had known him, had a real group of friends. He tended to bounce around and talk to everyone, but he'd never appeared to have a steady. solid friendship. Yet, here he was, practically attached to her hip. It confused him, that was all.

Ayers bounded over, crossing the courtyard in a few easy strides. He reminded Warren of Lash sometimes.

"Logan, my favorite, most wonderful hero partner ever," She sent Warren a look, "Do you see the poptart bastard Peace has taken from me? Any chance I could get another."

With a flourish and a bow (it worried him a little how theatrical they both were), a poptart appeared in his hand. Ayers could have fixed world hunger in a flash, provided the duplications lasted long enough, and instead he spent his time cutting class and getting thrown in detention. He doubted anyone went to detention as often as Ayers.

"Blech!" Garwin made a face and pulled the poptart away to examine it. "Cherry? Worst flavor ever."

Warren smirked to himself. Ayers also never got a duplication 100% right either. He took the cherry duplicate from her hand and jammed her original in her mouth before she could say anything. He liked cherry better anyway. And, the look of indignation on her face was too good to pass up.

* * *

"Sorry, buttercup, but I warned you." Ayers shrugged and took a seat by Elijah, facing them.

Warren's eyebrows shot up. "Buttercup?"

Garwin rolled her eyes but refused to look at him. All he got was a "shut up".

Lunch was uncharacteristically quiet that afternoon. Warren easily attributed that to the lack of Garwin. Even with Zack demanding their feedback on the costume designs he's made and Elijah's new girlfriend sitting with them there was no one to complain about stolen fries or just be loud and distracting in general.

He was certain he'd never wished for her presence more than when Layla slid next to him with the smile he'd come to recognize as her I'm-going-to-get-something-from-you smile. He stared at her warily.

"So," she dragged out the 'o' and he contemplated the best way to get out of there as quickly as possible, "you and Emm have been spending a lot of time together, even though you're no longer partners." She looked up at him expectantly and continued when he said nothing. The smile that now graced her face would have suited Gwen Grayson better. "And even your fighting is more of banter now and-"

"Stop. Wherever that train of thought is headed, derail it." Even as he said it he could see Garwin roll her eyes at the unintended pun.

Layla looked something like a dejected puppy. "But-"

This time it wasn't Warren who interrupted her, but a loud, deep boom and the emergency lights flashing on. Maggie, Patterson, and Elijah were up and headed out the door before the last lights had finished coming on and it only took Warren a few seconds longer to realize why. He was only a few paces behind them when they reached the Mad Science Lab.

Smoke billowed out of the lab and, with only a few students who had already been out in the hallway and Mr. Medulla standing around, it was easy to see that there was no obnoxious yellow coat in sight. Not that he was worried, but Maggie looked terrified.

"Left. Left. I said turn it left."

"I thought you meant your left."

"Your arm is on fire."

"Don't say that so calmly!"

He didn't breathe a little sigh of relief. You could only be relieved if you were worried. Which he wasn't. At all.

Ayers and Garwin both emerged with a few coughs and slightly singed clothing (Ayers was still patting down his left sleeve). Medulla was on them in a second.

"What happened? I thought we were past the boom stage."

"Calibration." And that was all she said. Medulla took it just as such and, after circling around her to ensure that she wasn't on fire like Ayers had been, peeked into the classroom with dismay. Maggie was on her in a second, checking her up and down and spinning her around. Elijah hovered near Warren but gave his sister a thorough look over as well. She seemed fine, except for the agonized look on her face.

"My coat." He thought he saw her lip wobble. "Logan used it to put out the fire on our workstation." Maggie patted her head while she continued to look like a kicked puppy. "My coat is ruined and the calibration went all wrong and I didn't even get to eat lunch."

Sometimes Warren just wasn't sure what went on in her brain. Most of the time, in fact.

* * *

She looked odd in Maggie's borrowed burgundy tunic. Not to mention Maggie's petite height meant that the tunic's baby doll shape came up much higher on Garwin and reminded Warren of a pregnant woman. He wisely chose to keep that to himself.

He swatted her hand away when she began fiddling with the hem, again. "Quit picking at it."

She gave him a look, swatted him back, but stopped picking at it. With a the south hallway of the school still being aired out(the one sophomore wind controller being out sick and Janice Gale being nowhere near powerful enough), all the classes on that end had been escorted to the courtyard to wait. And, so, Warren found himself sitting with Maggie, Patterson, Ayers, and Garwin, again. And he hadn't sat next to Garwin this time, she'd sat next to him, a fact he made sure to remember next time Hippie started thinking crazy again.

It was uncharacteristically quiet for the second time that day, at least on Garwin part. Ayers was having an animated discussion on The Crimson Tiger with Maggie, Patterson, and Aarons which he was sure would have normally spurred Garwin into action, instead she was starring off into space and using her finger as a dry erase marker on an imaginary board.

"What are y-"

She distractedly clapped her hand over his mouth. "Shh, shh, wait." Her finger continued to move through the air while he peeled her hand off. A hand she was too distracted to pull away from his knee where he dropped it.

While watching her finger move trace patterns in the air was entertaining for a minute or two, Warren soon found himself bored with halfheartedly listening to the continuing Crimson Tiger conversation and trying to decipher what she was writing in the air. So he upped his temperature a little. With her hand on his knee she had to feel it. Now he just had to wait and see how hot he could get before she realized.

Across the courtyard a junior girl he thought he recognized as a sidekick was staring at him oddly. Assuming she was yet another Warren Peace fangirl Garwin would later poke fun at, he ignored her.

"That's it!" Garwin's head snapped back around to look at him. "And now I know how to fix it." She was looking at him as though she expected him to actually contribute to the conversation she seemed to have just decided they were having.

"I don't know what to do with you."

And there was that patented confused Garwin look. He just shook his head and continued to heat up. When she moved her hand, however, it wasn't because he was nearly setting fire to it, but because she needed to put her hair up.

Right in the crook of her neck there was a smudge of grease or soot or any number of things it could have been and it bothered him. Without even really thinking about it he moved to wipe it away. The moment his hand touched her neck Garwin jumped a full foot in the air.

"Jesus Christ, Peace!" A few heads turned their way but they went on ignored. "Are you trying to burn me?" She winced and grabbed her neck.

He'd completely forgotten how high he'd turned up his temperature. He'd have been lying if he'd said he didn't feel a little bad. When she moved her hand away there was indeed a little red burn on her neck; it would be gone by tomorrow morning. He moved a few bits of hair out of the way to get a good look at it while she starred him down.

The others had turned to see what the commotion was about and, after determining that no fight was beginning right next to them, they turned back around. Except Ayers, who leaned back and dropped his head on Garwin's knee.

The action seemed so bizarre to Warren- so out of place- it made him uneasy. Garwin was tactile enough with Maggie and Patterson and her multitude of sidekick friends, but Ayers was some newcomer and seeing him rest so easily on her was... odd. Worse yet was the way her hand so quickly found his hair. She threaded her fingers through his hair for a few seconds before moving on to pick a little fuzz off his shirt.

"You okay there, buttercup?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Peace is just trying to take me out. He's failing, but you've got to give the poor boy some credit, I guess."

Warren's face remained impassive while they briefly chatted about what else she needed Logan's help on and her instance on him actually doing his homework. The junior girl continued to look at them from across the courtyard. When she caught Warren's eye her face turned a bright red and she ducked behind Larry the Giant Rock Man. Larry abused his powers too much.

When Ayers sat back up and left Garwin's knee she turned to him. "Can we try not to set me on fire when I haven't done anything?"

"Whatever you say," He smirked at her. "Buttercup."

Dumb luck alone saved him from the swing of her backpack at his head.


	13. Chapter 13

**Here we go, ladies and gents, the next chapter. I really like this one, actually. The last one was a lot of Warren dealing with Emm's new partner, this one is Emm dealing with Warren's new partner. **

**And I love all your reviews. You guys make my world go round. Thank you.**

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**Chapter 13-  
**

Free periods were few and far in between at Sky High when there was no explosion or accident. Most of the time they were spent out in the sunshine with a liberal use of powers and maybe a nap or two. Emm, however, chose to spend it in the library knocking out her need for a new formula and book on the Underground Civil War in one swoop. Logan chose to skip class and spend the period duplicating any book Emm picked up.

Emm gave him the same speech she gave him each time she found out he was skipping and reminded him that the reason he got caught was due to his lack of practice in duplicating himself, but he ignored her. He insisted that, this time, Medulla would be none the wiser about his little absence. Emm knew better.

Still, she let him loiter around her while she found the book she needed for her history report. She figured managing to get him to do his homework had been a good enough baby step for now. And he'd been practicing his duplications more now. She was so proud.

When Principal Powers had paired Emm up with Peace she'd thought maybe she had something against her. By the end of the partnership, thought she wasn't likely to admit it, she had changed her mind. Logan, however, had been an excellent choice from the get-go. They had simply clicked and Emm couldn't help but adore his enthusiasm for her projects, even after catching fire.

He'd been throwing little duplicated balls of paper at her since she'd sat down and she might have been annoyed if he didn't have such awful aim. Just as she was getting ready to retaliate she heard Peace's name.

"I can't believe Powers places you with him. Garwin I get, she's been dealing with him for years, but you?"

Emm furrowed her brow and waved a distracted hand at Logan when he made to speak.

"He's been alright so far."

It took Emm about a second to realize it was Ian Jacobsen and his sister, Isabel. Despite being twins the two had very little in common. Isabel was a highly skilled teleporter and hero (and a bit of a bitch) while Ian was a shy sidekick who could only move things about five feet away.

"You've spent no time with him, and it's better that way. I don't even know why they bother with him anyway. Everyone knows he's just going to end up like his father."

Emm didn't remember standing up or even phasing through two stacks of books. She did, however, remember putting her fist through their table. Later, when her ire had worn off, she would be thankful that her density kept her splinter free and Logan would say it was one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen, but at that instant she was too busy keeping for putting her fist through them.

"Children who don't know what they're talking about shouldn't speak at all." She grit her teeth to keep from calling them a number of things that would have likely made Ian cry. A telepath in the next room blushed bright red at the thoughts suddenly bombarding her.

Isabel was not someone to back down and quickly pushed her chair back to look Emm in the eye. Had there not been a table between them Isabel would have towered over Emm, but Emm had the table and the force of her fury to make up for her lack of height. Still, Isabel starred down at her. "This is none of your business, Garwin. This is a private conversation."

"You shut your whore mouth." Both the Jacobsen's looked taken aback. "You don't know him. You don't know a damn thing. But, I promise you, say something about him becoming a villain again and I'll tear your head clean off."

She didn't wait to hear Isabel's response or watch Ian's face turn even whiter, instead she took an awestruck Logan by the arm and led him out of the library. It took a coke or two and Logan creating a few Jacobsen duplicates with more than a little wrong with them before Emm cooled down enough to apologize for threatening to beat Logan if he so much as thought about telling Peace.

Logan, for his part, just continued to look like he could kiss her.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around Emm had calmed enough that Maggie could dismiss her sour mood earlier and she let Logan practice duplicating her. They were met at the lunch table by a grinning Logan and three expectant Emm's. Peace had apparently gone to get something from his locker and remained absent. All three Emm's grinned.

"So," the first one, "Who can tell which me-"

"Is the real me?"

Without missing a beat Maggie, Dan and Elijah all pointed to the middle. Emm couldn't have been more proud.

Logan, on the other hand, looked deeply disappointed. "But, but, how?"

"Elijah pointed to the real Emm's left eyebrow. "When we were little Emm fell off the top of the monkey bars and got stitches on her brow." Sure enough, the other two lacked the little scar.

"Emm also bites her lips all the time, she tears them up. No matter how much chapstick I buy her." Maggie pointed out, to which Dan nodded. "It's little things like that that we notice because we know her so well."

Zack leaned forward in his seat to look at the Emm's more closely. "I couldn't tell the difference."

"Someone please tell me this is a horrible nightmare."

All three Emm's adapted the same unamused look and made a face at Peace as he approached.

"Ha ha ha ha."

"You're a riot, Peace."

"But can you tell which one is real?"

They waggled their eyebrows for effect.

Peace rolled his eyes and sat down in the his usual spot before saying anything. "The middle one."

Logan looked damn near heartbroken. "How can you tell?"

Peace wasted no time in liberating Emm's tater tots from her tray. He took a moment to study her before settling Logan with a straight look. "Her eyes are blue."

Emm couldn't stop the smile that split her face. Apparently neither could Layla or Maggie. Their grins looked nearly painful.

"I even messed up your eye color." Logan threw his hands up in the air in mock defeat and pretended to sob while Emm patted him on the head. Her smile remained firmly in place.

And, then, Peace leaned back to stop Ian Jacobsen in his tracks. Emm's smile was immediately replaced by a serious-as-cancer look that almost seemed strange on her. Jacobsen looked like he was ready to wet himself. Logan was instantly amused once again.

"It's still Saturday night, right?" Only an idiot could have missed the frightened looks Jacobsen kept shooting Emm. He barely seemed aware of Peace's question. "Everything alright?"

He snapped back to attention, tearing his eyes from Emm long enough to hastily nod his agreement and scurry away.

When Emm pretended to not know what in the world they were talking about and kicked Logan under the table, they let it slide. Just another odd thing that Emm had said to him, they assumed. When Isabel Jacobsen passed by with Marianne Wash and the tension became so thick they could nearly spread it on their hero subs, they were less inclined to let it slide.

Isabel strutted past their table, speaking loud enough for them to hear. "I wonder what the policy on damage of school property is." Marianne only sighed.

Emm pushed her tray at Peace and fixed Jacobsen with a steady glare. "I don't know. Maybe you should look that up in the library. And find out the policy on damage of student attendants while you're at it." The stare down that ensued was uncomfortable for everyone. Except Logan, who still looked like a giddy schoolboy.

It continued in silence until Marianne rolled her eyes and tugged on Jacobsen's arm. With a final dirty glance at Emm, she stormed change in Emm was instantaneous. She pulled her tray back and began eating her sandwich, looking to all the world as though she hadn't just murdered a girl with her eyes forty times over. Logan was laughing so hard he had to cross his legs.

Peace pulled the tray away from her and pushed it into Ethan's. "Garwin, what the hell was that?"

"What was what?" The patented confused Emm look was in full effect, and completely faked. As a unit they all gave her the same look. Logan continued to laugh (he was beginning to turn blue).

"What just happened between you and the Jacobsens?"

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Emm, we all saw it."

"Mags, are you feeling alright?"

"Okay, come on, Emmy, what happened?"

"Are you all feeling alright? Is there something in the water today?"

"Garwin, cut the crap."

"Peace, you're beginning to worry me. Do we need to see Nurse Spex?"

Logan was practically dying. He leaned over onto Emm's shoulder and continued to laugh like it was going out of style. It got a chuckle out of Emm before he calmed down enough to talk. But, Emm continued to pretend they were all insane.

"I need to find a way to just request you as my permanent sidekick." He wiped tears from his eyes.

Emm pulled her tray back from its spot by Ethan. "What a waste of a request. I'm not going to be a sidekick."

Magenta finished off her apple juice and gave Emm a look. "Then what are you going to do?"

"Just imagine me as the Oracle to your birds. Even though I always wanted to be Black Canary better." She grinned at them. "I'll make all your rays and lazers and grappling hooks and give you lot first dibs. Basically, I'll be my dad."

Elijah nodded knowingly. Zack immediately began planning all the cool gadgets he could ask her for. The others seemed to accept that they would not be getting any straight answers from Emm, but at least would be supplied later on with all the best tools.

"Well, then you'll just have to marry me."

The way Layla's head snapped around was terrifying. Maggie blushed bright despite being in no way involved as well. And was it suddenly much hotter at their table?

"Careful, don't want her to punch you." Logan and Emm both sent a questioning look over at Zack and waited for him to explain what Dan and Elijah had told them (all news to Peace) and were sucked into a long talk (or as long as they had left of lunch) where Emm claimed that Elijah was exaggerating, Elijah pointed out that she had last punched a boy for declaring his affection only a year ago, and Maggie pointing that he was an icky boy and deserved it and Emm had, in fact, had a boyfriend before.

They also learned that Emm was a god awful cellist with excellent taste in cello prodigies as boyfriends.

* * *

That final bell ringing was something of a godsend to the Hero Support class, most of which had noticed the way Ian Jacobsen had flinched every time he'd been forced to stand anywhere near Emm and her friends. Maggie had stuck around a few extra minutes talking to Mr. Boy and Emm was waiting for her by her locker when she spotted Layla and Peace.

From where she stood even her hearing (she really was quite proud of it) wasn't enough to catch anything, but she'd made Peace angry enough times to recognize the signs. She was intrigued, especially by the brilliant grin on Layla's face.

Pushing off from the locker she approached cautiously. Peace turned from Layla and stormed her way.

"Simmer down, Peace, you're going to melt the floor." He brushed roughly past her shoulder without so much as a spare glance and made a path through terrified little underclassmen in the hallway. Emm frowned.

Layla looked positively giddy.

"What in the hell?" Layla just kept grinning like a madman. Emm had to admit, she frightened her.

* * *

**Excerpts from the next chapter (because I'm feeling generous): **

___"No, no, you don't have to be so exact. Just go with it."_

___"Okay, but if you poison Logan, I refuse to take the fall."  
_

___"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have any single-celled friends? If I'd known I would have sent flowers."_

___"Are you cleaning my kitchen? You OCD freak! Get out of there!"  
_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14-**

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"Hey, Peace. You're looking sullen as usual."

…

"...Well, fine."

* * *

"I'm warning you, Peace, don't touch my fries."

…

"So, you're actually not going to take any?"

* * *

"Okay, seriously, what's your deal?"

* * *

"Fine. I don't care. I don't want to talk to you anyway."

* * *

Emm slammed the mixing bowl on the counter. No, she wasn't angry that Peace had failed to address a single word or look in her direction. Why would she be? She didn't care.

She pulled the utensil drawer open roughly, the silverware jangling inside. Elijah smiled at her from the kitchen doorway. "A little angry?"

Emm gave him a look. "I'm not angry, I don't have anything to be angry about." She was careful to close the drawer more softly.

Just as the last time the seniors had been partnered up their little blue booklets demanded that they dine at their partner's homes on Friday. Emm had to admit she was looking forward to it this time around much more than the last (even though the last had turned out to be not so bad).

Mr. and Mrs. Garwin were out of state at the opening of an art gallery (Elijah repeatedly cursed the history exam which kept him from going) and wouldn't be home till morning, but Emm figured she'd simply invite Logan over for dinner another day as well. Of course, it meant that Emm was left to cook dinner on her own.

Unlike Emm, who would eat just about anything tossed her way, Elijah has a tendency to be more choosy. Some days he simply didn't want to eat lasagna; like today. He'd no doubt end up eating it for breakfast. So, while Emm popped her lasagna in the over Elijah had called out to the Paper Lantern for take away.

This had only helped remind Emm that the ass better known as Warren Peace had given her the silent treatment all day. She made a face at nothing while she continued to set up her baking materials.

When the doorbell rang she set down the measuring cups and shouted for Elijah before hearing the shower. Usually it took longer for their orders to arrive. Then again, Paul had probably hurrieda himself up knowing the Garwin's tended to tip well.

She was not expecting to see Warren Peace at her door with her order.

The easy smile on her face was immediately soured. If he wasn't going to talk to her, she wasn't going to talk to him. So, they were just going to stand there and stare at each other in her doorway.

"You know, most people take the order or say hello."

Emm raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, so you're talking to me now? Color me flattered."

He thrust the bag into her chest and moved past her, leaving Emm gaping at his back. "Okay! That's cool! Just ignore me all day then let yourself into my house. I'm not tipping you!"

It was as easy as that. Emm continued to make faces at him while he explained that Paul had been out sick and he'd taken over for his last order and he made faces at the mess that was currently her kitchen. At least if her parents had been home her mother could have taken over entertaining him.

Peace pulled a stool over from the corner of the kitchen and watched her sift flour with a critical eye. Something clearly displeased him and, while she wasn't sure what it was, she was doing all she could to make sure it continued. Finally he seemed fed up and marched over to where she stood, snatching the measuring spoon she'd been using to pour vanilla extract from her hand.

"Hey!"

"You don't have to be so exact, Garwin. Use just a little less vanilla."

She took the spoon back from him forcefully. "The recipe says a full teaspoon." Emm had told him before; she could cook anything with a recipe. She also followed that recipe to the letter.

"You don't need that much. Trust me. You've got to just feel it out." With one step to the left he bumped her out of the way and closed the cookbook she'd propped up.

Emm gaped at him. The nerve.

"Come on, Garwin, you experiment all the time."

"Yeah, but no one has to eat my experiments." She ignored the look he gave her out of the corner of his eye.

"Right, they just blow up instead. Much better."

"One explosion and the world never lets you live it down."

"Except for that one last year."

"Oh, come on, that was nothing. Just a minor fire. No one even noticed until it was done."

"And sophomore year when you killed all the single celled organisms in school?"

"I'm sorry," She gave him a flat look, "Did you have some single celled friends? If I'd know I would have sent flowers."

* * *

By the time Emm had conceded to letting him help her (more like take over) the baking process, he was nearly done. He had, however, decided to go without the store bought frosting she'd bought and insisted she make her own. Emm figured it was just another chance for him to show off.

Considering how nervous he'd been the first time around at her house he was unusually at ease now. And maybe a small part of her was alright with that.

He wiped his egg-y hands on his jeans and Emm made a face. So OCD about his room and house but an absolute mess with his clothing. She rolled her eyes and crossed the kitchen to the apron drawer.

Quickly tucking the monkey wrench she found into her apron pocket, so as to avoid another talk on not leaving wrenches in the apron drawer, she picked one out for him. She'd pulled out her father's specially made "Kiss the mad scientist" apron first before quickly and decidedly putting it right back and choosing instead her mother's checkered blue one. She was sure Peace wouldn't mind the frills too much.

He seemed entirely concentrated on the task at hand and she had to physically turn him away for the counter before he stopped whisking the eggs he'd cracked. Ignoring the look he gave her she slipped the apron over his head.

"You have egg all over your pants."

He rolled his eyes at her but tied the strings at the back without further comment.

"Come here, finish beating this."

Emm stared warily at the bowl he'd moved her in front of. It looked nothing like butter cream. This was mostly due to the obvious lack of butter.

He seemed to read her mind and shoved the powered beater into her hands anyway. "It's just egg whites and sugar, Garwin. It's good, trust me." He'd been asking her to trust him a lot today. She was clearly being poisoned.

"What's the deal with you and Jacobsen? Both of them."

Emm shrugged and flinched when she pulled the beater out too far and splattered them both with bits of egg white. "Just don't like them. No actual deal."

"Right, except Ayers seems to think there is. And what is the deal with Ayers too?"

Emm paused the beater to focus all her attention on raising her eyebrow at him. "Um, he's my partner."

"I was your partner."

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Do you want a hug? I could play with your hair."

"Don't touch."

"Okay, so what? You think there's something not entirely partnery going on between me and Logan?"

Emm had to laugh and set the beater back onto the counter. "Oh my god, no. That's just how our friendship is. Quickly built and kind of touchy. Logan actually has a thing for... I can't actually tell you that." He'd only just told her his little secret and she planned on keeping it.

"If you say so."

"Jealous?"

"I'd sooner be jealous of a rotting cat on the side of the road."

She chucked a handful of flour in his face. The look of shock on his face left her doubled over with laughter. She received her own faceful of flour a moment later.

And thus began a food fight the likes of which the Garwin household had never seen before. Even counting that one unfortunate Thanksgiving affair in which her twin baby cousins had discovered their telekinesis. At some point Elijah came downstairs and quickly made off with his dinner, receiving a splatter of flour on the back of his shirt for the trouble.

Interestingly enough, by the end of it, Emm's sides ached from her uncontrollable laughter and she could have sworn she'd heard Peace laugh as well, though she may have imagined it.

They ended sitting on the floor opposite each other, leaning against the counters. Emm couldn't look at him without falling into another fit of giggles (there was still egg dripping from his hair). He shook his head at her but she could clearly see the smile on his face.

"You know, if you smiled more often people would think you're less of an ass. I would know the truth, but you could fool some of them."

The doorbell interrupted any reply he might have made.

Garwin stood suddenly, only slightly slipping on the flour covered floor. "Logan! Crap, I forgot all about him." She looked down at herself then glared at him, completely forgetting that she had started it.

Warren shook his head and rolled his eyes (he really had been spending too much time with her) before pointing out of the kitchen. "Go get changed, I'll get the door."

She was up the stairs in a flash, shouting a thank you behind her. Warren was clearly too nice of a guy. He should have let her deal with it, especially after the egg she'd cracked open on his head. And, thinking of it, how did she even get high enough to do that?

Ayers looked fairly surprised when he answered the door, though Warren couldn't be sure if it was because he was answering the door, or his appearance, or both. He played it off nicely.

"Hey, Peace, looking good."

Warren just stared at him while he let him through.

Elijah peeked his head out over the stairs. "Hey, Logan. Emmy will be right now. She's just leaving a trail of flour everywhere."

Warren winced at the idea but Ayers seemed to take it in stride.

Elijah's head disappeared for a second and then popped back into view. "Oh, and thanks for the food, Warren."

He nodded but clarified that Paul had been sick to keep Elijah from getting any ideas like Layla had.

Ayers stood rather awkwardly in the Garwin living room much like Warren had. Clearly he didn't share Garwin's ability to simply take over a room. "So, I wasn't expecting you here. You have dinner with us?" Before Warren could answer he cut him off again. "Isn't it funny, how much time you two spend together now after years of just fighting?"

Clearly the hippie was contagious.

Warren was apparently not meant to get a word in as, as he opened his mouth to inform Ayers that he didn't find it funny at all, Garwin came bounding down the stairs.

She'd changed into a pair of jeans and a yellow t-shirt but her hair remained covered in flour. Ayers didn't seem to mind while he hugged her.

"Hey, sorry about this." She smiled sheepishly and led him to the couch. "The lasagna won't be ready for a little while longer either."

Peace disappeared off into the kitchen, most likely to remove his flour-y apron and Emm tried her hardest to ignore her hair. Logan periodically picking at it was not helping.

"I really like what you've done with it, buttercup." She smacked his hand away and glared at him. "I didn't know Peace would be here. That's cool, you know. I'll pretend he's your dad or something."

Emm made a face and rolled her eyes. "That's silly. He was dropping off Elijah's Chinese order and decided I needed help cooking. And then we had a food fight."

"I see that." Logan was clearly very amused by the whole affair.

A thought struck Emm when she realized Peace had yet to return. "Are you cleaning my kitchen?"

When he made no answer she stood and stalked over to the kitchen doorway. "You OCD little maniac. Stop that. You'll rearrange everything and I won't ever be able to find my wrenches again."

"Wrenches don't belong in the kitchen." He shouted back at her.

"I'll decide where the Garwin family wrenches belong, thank you very much. And they belong in the Garwin family kitchen."

"Wrenches don't belong in any kitchen."

Logan, for his part, seemed to enjoy their every interaction that night so much he insisted Peace stay and eat with them (Emm would have suggested the same thing in the end anyway). The night somehow ended with everyone, Elijah included, on Emm's twin bed arguing the merits of the Beatles' acid years.


	15. Chapter 15

Emmeline Garwin was a good friend, a good engineer, good student, and a good card player. She was not a good cellist, or forgiver, or boggle player, and, most importantly of all, she was not a good sick person. She did not like seeing the doctor, refused to take her medicine, or even eat, and all around preferred to spend the day lying in bed in peace and quiet (coughing, sneezing, and general bemoaning aside). The change in seasons never agreed with her either.

This time was also, unfortunately, the high season for Mad Science conventions, including The Summit (deserving in a capitalized name after a century of hosting the most brightest minds in Mad Science). And, if Emm was ever obstinate on one point, it was not allowing her father to miss them. If e failed to go there would be no one to relay all the the news and free gifts to her. Their mother was often encouraged to go as well and the Garwin's had long ago worked out a system for this time.

Emm would pretend it was only a cold long enough to see them off and would then spend the next few days alone in bed. Mr. and Mrs. Garwin would take off to the conventions (Mrs. Garwin entertained herself with the galleries of the big cities) and called home throughout the day. And, Elijah would leave Emm with water, pills she never took, and soup she never drank, and spent the week mostly over at Dan's house. He called every ten minutes without fail to check on her.

Dan and Elijah liked to refer to their special week as boy time. Really, despite the lack of females, boy time was just the same as any other time. They watched sci-fi, fantasy adventure, and action movies all day. And British romantic comedies. Neither of them was ashamed to admit that they always made time for _Love Actually_. Nonetheless they cherished boy time and always had entertaining stories for a few days.

It was a system that worked for everyone.

* * *

The bus drivers' habit of getting to school early and thus giving everyone time to talk still irked Warren occasionally. He'd long since had a group of friends to accompany him but for a long time he'd either been alone or fighting with Garwin. He'd grown used to just going to class.

He was usually sitting on the ledge reading when the others arrived. Garwin's group arrived just moments after his own, with a distinct lack of Garwin herself.

Zack was the first to comment on it. "Hey, where's Emm?" Warren had known them both long enough now to see that their shared loved for blindingly bright colors had endeared them to one another in some strange bond he neither understood nor cared to.

He also knew, very well, why she was out. "She's sick." He received curious looks all around. "Really? You think after four years of putting up with her I wouldn't realize I get a break from her this time every year?"

They all conceded his point and he chose to ignore the looks Layla and Will were giving him. Warren was tired of their pointed looks and attempts at meaningful chats.

* * *

"_Damnit, Stronghold, we are not having a talk about Garwin."_

"_Right, because you don't think there's anything to talk about. Right?"_

"_Exactly."_

"_Dude, Layla read you like a book. Don't you think I know you well enough by now to be able to tell when you're just being a stubborn moron?"_

"_Apparently not."_

"_Warren, just admit it. You like her. And not just in a I-don't-think-I'll-set-her-on-fire way, but a man-I'd-sure-like-to-kiss-her way. Hey! Mom's going to be really pissed if my curtains catch fire again!"_

"_Stronghold, it's Garwin."_

"_So?"_

"_It's _Emmeline Jillian Garwin. _What in the world would make you think I liked her?"_

"_Her middle name is Jillian?"_

* * *

Warren tuned back in half way through Maggie's explanation of the system. He only vaguely realized he'd been glaring at Will the whole time.

"Wait, so you leave Garwin alone sick for a week or so? That doesn't sound like the Garwin's." Warren may have only met the whole family once, but it was easy to see how the functioned.

"They try to fight it, but then Emm makes many a speech on how she will simply perish without the latest Maximillion Kessler news or trinket." Maggie shrugged. "And, she really just does not like having people around."

"Besides," interjected Patterson, "Nurse Spex always calls her and it's much safer to stay away. She once threw a screwdriver at my head for trying to mix her medicine in with coke." That sounded like Garwin.

The bell rang then and interrupted their talk on the workings of the Garwin household. Warren meant to make it up and the stairs and to his classroom quickly, thus avoiding Patterson, Ayers, and, most importantly, Will. Patterson and Ayers were the only ones who had class with him, but it was Will whom he'd been steadfastly avoiding.

He seemed to have forgotten that Will could fly.

"Warren, wait up."

"I'm walking fast on purpose, Stronghold."

"Ah, see, I knew you were mad at me. You always call me Stronghold when you're mad." Will wagged his finger at him. "Come on, man, why won't you just admit it?"

"Because there's nothing to admit." Usually the stubborn insistence on accepting something emotional came from Layla, but this time around Will seemed to have taken a stake in it as well. Warren wanted to jump off the side of the school, but then Will would have just caught him.

"But-"

Warren slammed the Mad Science door in his face and hoped that was the end of it. At least until lunch.

* * *

He didn't really want to be there. He would have rather been at home, watching whatever old B movie was playing. It was his mother's fault; no one could guilt like she could. That was the only reason he was standing outside Garwin's door waiting for someone to answer.

Warren thought back to all the ways he could have avoided this. He could have not gone home, for one. Or maybe not spoken to his mother. Or, better yet, when his mother asked about Garwin, which had become an every day thing, he could have forgotten to mention that she was out sick. So many ways he could have gotten out of it.

There was a noise from inside the house and the door swung open. Garwin looked awful. Her hair had once been in a braid over her shoulder, but too many hairs had escaped at this point to call it that. Her nose was red, her cheeks were rosy, and there was a fine sheen of sweat on her forehead. She was dressed in what he assumed were her pajamas; yellow striped pants and a bulky gray sweatshirt, and appeared to have dragged her comforter along with her.

She took one look at him and slammed the door.

Warren rolled his eyes and made to call her an idiot when she sneezed and phased clear through the door. He laughed a little. More than a little. He was still laughing as he helped her up and into the house. She was not amused.

He shouldn't have been surprised; being sick made even normal powers act up. It had to have been worse for Garwin who had shaky control at best.

She glared at him. "Shut up. This is your fault. I can't phase through my bed." Her voice was just as bad as the rest of her.

"Come on, Garwin, let's get you into you special bed."

She glared at him the whole way up, but it lost its effect when she had to constantly sniffle. It was humorous more than anything.

Her room looked like always, except for the bowl of untouched soup, box of tissues, and bottles of waters on her bookshelf. She dropped onto the bed with a thump.

Unable to help himself he began to tidy up the discarded water bottles and take her medicine out of the trash. Expecting some snide remark he looked back at her, only to find her curled up, almost fully covered, face down on the bed.

She said something that might have resembled "just let me die" but was otherwise too muffled to be understood. She turned her head out slightly to breathe. "And stop cleaning my room. I know you are." He smirked.

"Come on, Garwin, roll over." She shook her head and pulled the covers over her head. "Listen, I don't want to be here. Blame mom." She didn't move.

With an almost growled sigh Warren moved to the bed and rolled her over. Garwin continued to glare. "And take these covers off." He tugged on the edge of the yellow comforter and was surprised at the strength with which she kept it in place.

"I'm freezing!"

Warren's temperature had never been normal and judging others had always been difficult, but, no matter what he said, Garwin had always had a fairly standard temperature and even he could tell she was too warm now.

"You have a fever. You shouldn't be swathed."

"But, I'll freeze to death!"

"No, you won't. Let go."

"No. Go away!"

"Let go of the damn covers."

"Go away. Stop trying to kill me."

With one final tug her ripped the comforter from her hands and tossed it to the other side of the room.

"You're going to want to pick that up soon enough."

He ignored her and sat on the bed before reaching for the bag he'd brought with him and the unused spoon on her bookshelf. When he turned back to her she'd nearly completely curled herself around him.

"You're like a radiator." She mumbled. If she hadn't been so busy burrowing her face into her sheets she might have noticed the hints of an exasperated smile.

He opened the styrofoam container and set it down again to both give it time to cool and force her to sit. They had not been lying; she was a difficult patient. Then again, Garwin was a difficult everything.

Surprisingly, she sat up with only the slightest coaxing and turned her glare to the styrofoam bowl. "I'm not hungry."

"I don't care. You're going to drink it."

"She pursed her lips. "Quit being a child." She pursed them even tighter.

Warren ground his teeth. "Garwin, open your damn mouth." Nothing. "What are you, four?"

The pursed lips melted into a frown. "If I eat I'll just get sick every where."

"No, you won't. You'll feel better, trust me."

She took a deep sigh and gave him a look. "You know, you are spending an inordinate amount of time at my house." Words like "inordinate" couldn't help but be amusing when spoken around sniffles and a stuffy nose. Nonetheless he ignored her and took the opportunity to shove the first spoonful in her mouth.

Her eyes grew wide and she swallowed hard. There was a moment of silence. "It's hot! Oh my god. Too hot. Too hot."

He should have warned her, yes, but then she wouldn't have eaten it.

"I'm going to kill you." Her eyes were watering and she'd turned a little redder, but he'd bet anything that her sinuses had cleared. She'd feel better soon enough.

He moved the nearest bottle of water out of her reach and ignored her indignant yelp. "Water will make it worse. Here." He held the crab rangoon in front of her for only a second before she shoved it in her mouth. "The cream cheese will help."

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you."

"Can you breathe?"

"...I still hate you."

"Just drink your soup."

There was a brief look of frustration before she drank another spoonful of the soup. Each time she reacted in the same over dramatic fashion. Either she'd always been predictable, or he'd been spending too much time with her.

When the soup was done and she'd eaten the last crab rangoon she grudgingly thanked him. "I'm warmer now, at least."

Warren checked her over again. Her face was still flushed and sweaty, but now he wasn't sure if it was due to the fever or the soup. "Take off the hoodie, Garwin."

Sick or not she managed a scandalized look just fine. "Oh, how I wish my daddy was here to hear that."

He stood to throw the empty containers in her trash and ignored her, as he'd done most every time she'd spoken. When he sat back done he looked her square in the eye. "Off. You can't sweat a fever out, it's not good for you."

They stared each other down for a minute. Finally, apparently too exhausted from being sick to actually fight him for long, she leaned forward and stretched out her arms. He knew exactly what that meant without her needing to say anything and look a moment to give out a world weary sigh before pulling the hoodie off of her and folding it neatly on the corner of her bed.

"It's so cold!" He ignored her again.

* * *

An hour later Warren was reorganizing each of her books. After all the grief she'd caused him he figured moving things around would be just enough pay back. No matter what she said about him being OCD, he knew she'd be easily annoyed by any modifications he made to her room.

It gave him something to do while she slept too.

In no time he'd rearranged every tool in her room and her scientific journals. When she was well enough to notice, she'd be furious. Her fever had broken sometime during the past hour and he no longer felt morally obligated by his mother to be nice.

She rolled over and kicked off the covers. She'd done this six times already. With another sigh Warren left the bookcase and pulled the covers back up. Even asleep, she was impossible.

Still, Warren thought, maybe Will was right.


	16. Chapter 16

I don't even have an excuse for why this is so late. I'm just the worst. I understand if you hate me.

* * *

Emmeline was certain she'd never enjoyed a mall trip less. Emmeline was also prone to exaggeration. Still, this trip, had to be one of the worst. And she was certainly not exaggerating, not one bit.

It had seemed like fun when Ma Rollings had picked her up earlier that morning. The entire day had seemed positive, for that matter. It hadn't been too cold and she'd been prepared in case September decided to get snippy about its weather, and she'd finally ordered that one bit she needed to fix her car. It really didn't take much to please Emm, despite her inclination to dramatics.

"I still don't get why you won't even consider it." And then Maggie had started up.

Emm sighed around her straw. She should have known this conversation would lead to nothing good. Logan, still dressed in his pretzel stand uniform, laughed at her.

Maggie and Emm had taken a girl's day at the mall at Maggie's insistence and Emm's need for a new power drill (not so much a need as a nagging want). Logan had been working at the pretzel place when they arrived and had agreed to join them when his shift ended. He had been the one to start the conversation on partners.

With another sigh Emm looked at Maggie. "I wouldn't consider it because it's silly." This was what she got for being friendly with Warren Peace.

"But, why?" Mags was generally shy and soft-spoken, but when left with people she could trust she could be as obstinate as the best of them. She simply refused to drop the subject. Logan, who was content to watch and finish his cup full of cinnamon and sugar pretzel bites, was no help.

"Because Peace and I fight all the time I don't like him like that and he doesn't like me like that and it would all be bizarre." When they both just looked at her, clearly unsatisfied, she groaned.

"You two don't seem to be _really _fighting as much as you used to. It's more friendly now."

Emm shoved Logan with a roll of her eyes. "Oh come on, you didn't even know us before we became partners." She'd almost said 'friends', but that would have just spurred them on.

Logan, for all his long limbs and generally lanky appearance, was more graceful than she'd expected and easily spun around and missed the trash can beside him completely. His laugh made her shove him again. "Everyone in the school knew you two. There used to be bets on when he'd finally roast you. Actually, I think you've really let some people down now that you're friends."

She was smart enough to realize she wouldn't win this argument by relying on the old fighting. "I'm friends with Dan, and you too Logan, but no one pushes me to "admit my attraction" to them."

Maggie gave her a look and Emm considered that she'd been a bad influence on her. "That is completely different and you know it."

She couldn't help it; she grinned. If they wanted to be difficult she could be difficult too. She was good at being difficult. "Oh yeah? How? I spend loads of time with Dan, and we get along. We'd be perfect together."

Logan laughed into his cup while Maggie made a whining noise.

"And Logan. Logan and I only met a while ago, but look how well we get along. I'm getting him to not skip class and he's helping me with my project. Hell, we even got paired together. It's fate!" She shouted, earning the attention of an older couple. "It's true love!"

Maggie managed to look mildly annoyed as she fought a smile.

Logan, however, looked ready for a fit of dramatics. He tossed his cup in the trash. "Oh, my dear, if only I knew you felt this way. I would have saved my heart for you." He grabbed onto her shoulders. "Sadly, my heart belongs to another." He dropped his head into the crook of his neck and pretended to sob loudly.

Emm clung to him. "I will never forget you! But, maybe, just maybe, one day I'll learn to live without you."

Maggie walked away before she could completely crack.

* * *

He was perfectly content to sit around his room all day and watch the first season of Steve McQueen's first series. He was actually foolish enough to believe it would be a nice quiet day too. Then his phone rang.

"Oi, Peace," She didn't even wait for him to properly answer. "Look outside."

He groaned loudly. Sure enough, when he pulled back his curtains, she was leaning against his car.

"I'm not letting you in."

"Oh, don't be an ass."

He glared at her through the window.

"If you can help it."

He hung up. Just because he'd opened up to the idea of liking her, didn't mean he had to like it.

A minute later he was downstairs opening the door. "Would you stop molesting my car?"

She rolled her eyes at him, but stopped poking at his tires. "Took you long enough." She picked up the shopping bags he hadn't noticed on the sidewalk and gave his car one last pat. When he stepped aside she breezed past him. "Is your mom home?"

"No, she's at work." Garwin looked honestly disappointed. "You just want her to be around because she thinks you're great."

It was the wrong thing to say and her eyes lit right up. "I am great! She's so wise to realize it." She hitched her shopping bag up to her elbow and started up the stairs to his room. "How could such a bright woman have had such an idiot son?"

He swatted her head halfheartedly. "How does a sidekick have such an ego?" He knew it didn't really bother her to be a sidekick and only slightly bothered her that she had so little control over her powers. He, himself, was only slightly bothered by how well he knew her now.

Just like the last time she'd been to his house she walked like it was her own home. She dropped her bags next to his television and plopped onto his bed.

He had to stand in the doorway for a moment and watch her. "You are absolutely ridiculous. You know that right?" When she rolled her eyes he stepped into the room. "No, I'm serious. I don't understand you at all."

"Eh, you'll get over it."

Warren ignored the bags of what he assumed were ridiculous yellow shirts and skirts and sat down at the head of his bed. He considered being nice for a moment, then kicked her off the bed. She squeaked and fell with a thud. The string of curse words that followed nearly made him laugh, but he bit it back down to a chuckle.

"Asshole." She chucked a dvd case at him. With a grunt she sat back down on the bed facing away from him and kick his thigh.

He eyed her gray Converse disdainfully and shoved them off his bed. "What are you even doing here?"

She laid down, letting her head fall over the end of the bed. "I went shopping with Mags and we met up with Logan. He works at the pretzel place, you know." He didn't know that and he didn't know why he would. "I just had Ma Rollings drop me off down the street."

When he raised an eyebrow, she shrugged. They were both getting very used to just spending time with one another without any particular reason, they just didn't want to admit it.

She stretched an arm out and turned his TV on. "Where you just sitting here being bored and boring?" Garwin flipped quickly through the channels until she landed on the History Channel. "You need a life, Peace. It's sad."

He grabbed her leg and tugged her up over the edge. "That's not how normal people watch TV. And your shoes are on my bed."

Garwin made a face but sat up and twisted around so she was facing the television. And for good measure she stole his pillow. They sat like that and watched a special on superheroes of the ancient world and he pretended not to notice the dark look on her face when he mentioned that Jacobsen had gotten out of both the dinners they were required to have.

A look which remained until she was reminded of her shopping and forcefully showed him the new drill she'd bought and the ratchet set she'd put an order in for. She was kind enough to spare him the sweaters and jeans she bought.

Instead Emm made a crack or two about his need to go shopping and expand his very limited, very worn, wardrobe.

When the program they'd been watching ended she stopped teasing long enough to pay attention. _Important Heroes of Our Century. _She'd watched this one occasionally with Elijah, who'd always held more of an interest in super history than she had.

They quickly ran through the four heroes they would cover in this particular episode. She jumped and slapped Peace's thigh.

He shoved her. "The hell?"

"That's my grandmother." She pointed to the screen but they had already started talking about The Panther. "Well, not him. White Hawk. She's my grandmother."

She couldn't help but pleased when he raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed. "White Hawk is a Garwin?"

"Well, originally she was an Decker, but she married my grandfather and became Eleanor Garwin. She started her career as Decker though. I have to remember to give her a call later today."

She was always pleased when a mention of White Hawk was made. Even if she didn't intend of becoming a hero or even sidekick, she would always be proud of the heroes that were in her family. And there were a few.

"So, Elijah inherited her telekinesis?"

"Yeah, most of the family did. Dad and I didn't, and one of my cousins too, but the rest who actually developed powers were telekinetic."

Peace stayed quite for some time but she was too drawn into the show to notice until the commercial break. She found him giving her an odd look.

"Peace?"

"You've got a legacy."

"What?"

"Your grandmother was White Hawk. Your father is a well respected Mad Scientist with his own unique set of powers perfectly suited to what he does. And I'm assuming there are other heroes in your family." He paused while she looked at him expectantly. "And you didn't inherit the family abilities. You can't even control the ones you did."

She bristled. Her face flushed, she grit her teeth, and her knuckles cracked when she reflexively balled up her fists. "That's right, Peace, I didn't." She jumped from the bed as if burned and crossed the room quickly.

"Shit, Garwin!" He caught her wrist just as she stepped outside his room. "I didn't mean it like that."

To add to her frustration she couldn't make herself phase out of his hand. So, maybe she was a little more sensitive about the subject than she let on. She still didn't want to be a hero, but not having control over something that was meant to be such an integral part of her made her sore. She glared up at him.

"Garwin, listen to me." He pulled her arm back when she tried to turn away. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you. Damn it. Listen. I was being impressed."

His open admission made her stop trying to phase through. She watched him suspiciously.

"Legacies mean pressure. Even for the ones who have everything going their way." She assumed he was talking about Will post-powers and not himself. "What I was getting at was that you handle it well. Until just now you've never shown that it bothers you. You were content to let people think you didn't even have powers."

He looked at her seriously. "It's impressive."

Several beats passed between them before she deflated. She felt awkward standing there, reconciling all the anger she'd felt a moment ago, not knowing exactly how to respond. He solved the problem for her and tugged her back into the room by the wrist he'd never let go.

They sat back down on the bed and watched the rest of their program. When she tried to apologize he brushed it aside as unnecessary.

She told him her grandmother's side of the stories they talked about and what a terrible baker she was and how she always gave her sweaters for Christmas. And, when it got dark enough, he drove her home and had several slices of cake forced on him by her mother.


	17. Chapter 17

Look, two updates in quick succession to kind of make up for the months without.

* * *

Super History was as uneventful as always. The only thing that had changed in the class from the beginning of the school year had been the fact that Ayers was now present in class and had even done his homework. Warren had to admit, Garwin was a good influence on him.

Ayers still looked half asleep in the class though.

When the bell rang he filed out with the rest of them and made his way to his locker to drop off the ridiculously heavy textbook they'd pawned off on all of them and pick up his English books instead.

Zach, Ethan, and Magenta were chatting beside his locker when he arrived. The topic of the day was the impending Save The Citizen later in the day. None of them had actually been called into play since the first few weeks after the Homecoming fiasco when all the meat heads had felt obligated to prove that a couple of sidekicks were in no way better than them.

Warren and Will had quickly put an end to that practice.

Still, they liked to speculate on who would get called up, who would win. It used to be easy enough; Peace and Stronghold were undefeated, but with the new system in place they hadn't been able to team up since the year began.

Warren made an offhand comment about Bethany Ackles' skill when she was brought up. He was not particularly fond of hydrokinetics.

Zach was the first to notice the commotion. "What's everyone looking at?"

Several students had moved down to the end of the hall and around the corner while they talked. The general buzz of conversation was pitched a little higher.

"Another fight, you think?" Ethan sounded disapproving, but Zach and Magenta were already moving along with the crowd.

With as deep a sigh as he could manage Warren slammed his locker closed and followed behind.

It wasn't a fight, not yet. But Garwin was standing far too close, looking far too menacing, and speaking far too harshly at Isabel Jacobsen. It would only be a matter of time.

He wasn't an idiot. He knew Ian Jacobsen had been purposely avoiding him ever since they'd been partnered. And his sister had never hidden her distaste for him. He'd known from that first interaction in the cafeteria that Garwin's problems with them had to do with him.

But, he knew Garwin and she wouldn't have wanted to talk about it. So he didn't.

This was another matter entirely.

If Garwin decked Jacobsen now Principal Powers wouldn't take kindly to it. The last time had been under special circumstances and the same leniency would not hold.

Before she got too riled up and her powers started kicking in he pushed his way through the crowd, which seemed to part for him naturally, and grabbed her round the waist. When she didn't weigh a metric ton or pass straight through him he lifted her up and, without stopping at her shriek, walked back out of the crowd.

She called him an ass and demanded that he put her down; kicked and squirmed and cursed. Everyone in the halls, including Mr. Boy, gave them wide berth. Only when they'd gone two hallways down did she become too heavy to keep carrying.

He dropped her against a set of lockers and put both arms to either side of her head. Sure, she could have phased through him, angry as she was, but she seemed to have more trouble with that than the reverse.

"What the hell, Peace!" She tried to push past him but he roped her back in. "That was none of your business!" She was red in the face and gnashed her teeth when she spoke.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Then what was that about?"

Some harsh retort was right on the tip of her tongue, he could tell, but she bit it back just in time. She settled on glaring at him.

He sighed. He remembered a time when he was the one considered volatile by the students of Sky High. Clearly none of them had ever been in Garwin's presence for an extended period of time.

"I don't care what they say."

She looked surprised.

"Please, you think I don't know that Jacobsen, the bitch, hates me. I told you people still think I'm going to be a villain." He could see her start to deflate. "I don't care what she thinks. Or what she makes her brother think."

She still looked angry, but a pout had formed and she'd stopped struggling, so he felt safe in unboxing her. Realizing exactly how close they'd been, he took a step back. He ran a hand roughly through his hair.

The bell had rung at some point, but she had Mr. Boy next and he was lenient and Mrs. Macintosh loved him, so they'd be fine.

She was avoiding looking at him, pouting instead in the general direction of the cafeteria. "Garwin, you can't take offense for me every time some ass thinks I'm going to be my father."

She looked at him suddenly. "Oh, don't feel special, I'd do it for any of my fr-" The word trailed off awkwardly and she made weird noises to make up for it.

He smiled. "Yeah, friend. I won't tell anyone."

Some level of normality returned between them. She gave him a dry look. "You'd better not. I'll beat your ass into the ground if you do."

"As if I'd want anyone to know I'm friends with you. They'd think I'm a villain _and_ an idiot."

She punched him in the chest (and to be honest she hadn't full powered down) and he swatted her head. He pulled on the strings of her yellow hoodie and attempted to lead her back to his locker before she smacked his hand away.

"I'm not a dog, I don't need to be lead."

"No, dogs aren't this much trouble."

"I'm going to kick out your kneecaps."

* * *

"Emm, I'm going to have hell later. You know that, right?"

Gareth Darrows was one of four students in Mr. Medulla's exclusive advanced class. He was also unfortunate enough to be Isabel Jacobsen's partner.

They hadn't had a chance to talk about her little altercation in Mr. Boy's class, but with only four of them working individually in the otherwise empty classroom, conversation flowed easily. Mr. Medulla had stepped out to retrieve the mutated rat that had escaped the period before theirs.

"Sorry, Gar. If she gives you any grief send her my way. I'll gladly take care of it."

Gareth actually had a decent power, it was just seen as useless. Talking to fish didn't really afford much crime fighting potential. Worked out perfectly for him though, as he wanted to go into marine biology.

Emm liked Gareth. But, then she liked all of her exclusive science classmates. Mr. Medulla's special class was a bit like Vegas. Anything that was said or done in the class, stayed in the class.

"What the hell was that even about?" Karl Harrison was the only junior in their class. He was a half Korean hero with the ability to turn into a massive two headed wolf and a fondness for rays. He also boasted Emm's favorite dry humor and tone.

Gareth had been studying radiate prokaryotic structures but he gave her his attention long enough to look expectant when she tried to busy herself with some wiring.

"Warren, I'd wager."

Emm looked up at Juliette quickly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Emm had known Juliette for years. Her father had often supplied Mr. Brighton, known as The Frost, with a number of gadgets and had outfitted his hide-out with the newest technology before he retired. They'd had many dinner parties and visits to hero summits that left the two of them to entertain themselves. Juliette had always enjoyed Mad Science as Emm had and they'd bonded over it quickly. Emm had mocked and teased her relentlessly when she began dating Peace in sophomore year.

"It's no secret that Isabel doesn't like him. She won't work with him on assignments and she complained loudly after Ian got partnered with him." Juliette stopped working out the equation on the board and laughed at Emm's pout.

"Who'd have thought," Karl said with a chuckle. "There would come a day when you went to bat for Warren Peace?" He easily caught the rag she threw at his head.

"I wasn't surprised."

Emm, Gareth, and Karl all looked curiously at Juliette.

"What? Really? Come on, guys, we're scientists, we're supposed to be observant." She capped her dry-erase marker and stood at the front of the classroom. She cleared her throat for good measure and straightened up. She looked like a teacher.

"I know they've been fighting since day one. We all saw that, except Karl because he's a baby." They regularly teased their youngest mate. "But, remember when I broke up with Warren?"

"I remember when you started dating him." Gareth laughed. "Emm, you made such a fuss. Said Juliette was betraying you."

Karl didn't laugh. "Yeah, I know what you're getting at. I'd just been transferred over to this class. You broke up because of your dad." Juliette looked guilty for a moment. "And Emm thought that was the most bullshit reason ever."

"That's right!" Gareth poked Emm's cheek to try and dispel the pout. "She gave you such a talking to."

"She was so disappointed in me."

Tired of letting them all have their say Emm set her screwdriver down, hard. "Well, it was a bullshit reason! There's a million reasons to not go out with Peace, but your father thinking he was going to turn out like his dad was not one of them."

Juliette and Warren had long ago come to terms with the fact that she'd broken up with him for that very reason, but Juliette's continually guilty face told them all that she was still none too proud over it.

"Peace is an ass. He's picky and he steals your food and he's so OCD. There's so much wrong with him, but he's not a villain. And I really like your dad, but that was utter shit."

"I know. I know. But, it's done now. It's well in the past. What's important here," She adopted her teacher look again, "Is that you defended him even then. In just a different way."

Emm looked horrified. "Oh my god, you're right! What is wrong with me!"

She was met with a variety of things that were, in fact, wrong with her. The list didn't stop until she threatened to botch the calibration again.

When the bell rang for lunch they filed out, tossing the occasional barb at Emm, and skirted away when she made to hit them. Even when she sat down with her lunch, across from Peace, Gareth made a point to shout out a flaw he'd forgotten; her bad eating habits.

A table down Juliette laughed and ducked the roll Emm threw at her head. "Don't forget how she thinks everything is solved by throwing something at the problem."

"Trouble in Mad Science paradise?"

"Shut up, Peace."

"What's that all about?"

"Assholes."

"Sure."

"Am I attention stealing?"

"You're the worst."

"Oh, who asked you."

"You're also obnoxious, make no sense, and are far too arrogant for anyone's good."

"I really am going to kick out your kneecaps one day. Why do you think I keep sitting in front of you?"

"I always assumed it was to make my life miserable."

"Part of it."

"Eat your cheeseburger, Garwin."


	18. Chapter 18

Hey, someone brought it to my attention that I gave Emm two different middle names in separate chapters. She's Emmeline Jillian Garwin, not Emmeline Rose Garwin. Emmeline Rose is another character I write, she's actually where this Emmeline gets her name because I just loved that name. Also, I'm doing NaNoWriMo which means I'll probably be posting more often because I'll be avoiding writing my actual novel. Because I'm the worst.

* * *

He should have known better. He knew she loved holidays and her costume for last Halloween hadn't been anything to scoff at. He really shouldn't have dismissed it as a kids' holiday the way he had.

He should count himself lucky that she hadn't snuck into his house in the middle of the night and permanently painted his face like a mouse or something of the sort.

The moment Dan walked into her kitchen he froze. It took him a second to reconcile what his brain was telling him and what he was seeing. When her dad started laughing he burst out into his own peal of laughter, which left him doubled over the kitchen table.

"He's going-" He gasped for breath, "to kill you."

Her dad just laughed harder. He'd been amused by it ever since she'd even mentioned it.

Dan, knowing how seriously she took her holidays, always made at least a minimal effort. He, like so many other super, was dressed in the stereotypical alter-ego form. She always let it slide. Maggie would be going as a cat, Elijah as a zombie.

Logan had mentioned going as four different things without sitting on anything.

Even Peace's side of the group had expressed their interest in dressing up. He'd been the only spoil sport.

She smiled around a mouthful of cereal. "I'm just waiting on the final touches from Elijah." She pulled her sleeves up to show him her bare wrists.

While Dan helped himself to a bite of her cereal she dug through a pocket for her phone. She tossed it to her father.

"Take a good picture, dad." She made the appropriate "angry face" while her father worked her phone. "I'm going to send it to his mom. She'll get a kick out of it."

She'd scared the hell out of Maggie, made Ryan laughed so hard he nearly pissed himself. The entire bus ride was getting long-distance high-fives and laughs. Emm was far too proud of herself.

When they arrived Ethan was the first to see her. It took him several moments to recognize her, then he laughed. Albeit, a little nervously. Zack wasted no time in laughing uproariously. The others reacted more mildly, but all of their reactions were irrelevant when Peace strolled down the steps of the courtyard.

He took one look at her, her red hair streak, leather jacket, torn jeans, and quickly cracking scowl, and marched right back up the steps.

Emm couldn't help the laughter that followed. She bounded up the steps after him.

"What's wrong, Peace? Don't like my costume?" Her legs were much shorted than his, but she managed to cut him off. "You said you weren't dressing up. I had to represent you somehow."

"I hate you."

"Your mom loved it."

"Of course she did."

* * *

She'd spent the day stalking through the halls like a neanderthal, grunts and all. The occasional "Move aside, I'm Warren Peace, grr." found its way in.

The whole school seemed to find it amusing, though no one quite so much as Emm. This was, in her modest opinion, her best costume yet. Right down to the painted on flame tattoos.

The fact that it was freezing and the leather jacket was well insulated helped.

Peace had scowled and glared whenever he couldn't avoid her in the hallways, but no one really seemed to care. Someone had taken a picture of the two of them standing together on their phone and she was fairly certain it was circulating. She'd have to get her hands on that at some point.

When she sat across from him at lunch she heard snickers.

"You know, this is actually my worst nightmare. Two Peace's. That's a real scary Halloween."

He didn't say anything, didn't even look up from his book, just reached over and ate her fries.

"Give me a bit of credit here, Peace. I even had 'Lijah paint your tattoos on. I think they're a good rendition." She stuck her wrist in front of his book.

Finally he looked up at her. And that's when she realized why he'd been avoiding looking at her or standing with her too long. It was hard to spot, but she figured she knew him fairly well at this point, and she could see the slight upturn of his lip.

He was amused.

"Oh my god. You think this is funny."

He took one of her fries.

"You do! You like my costume!" The smile on her face disappeared. "I don't like this costume as much now."

"Where'd you get the jacket?"

She swatted his hand away from her tray, now pouting over the turn of events. He was not supposed to like the costume, it was supposed to annoy him to no end. "It's my dad's. When we were little he had a bike, it used to shoot lasers. Pretty accurate, I'd say, except I don't think this one is nonflammable."

"We could always test that."

"Screw you."

He ducked his head and she thought it was an attempt to hide exactly how amused he was.

"Wait. Wait. There's no way you actually approve of this." She reached over her tray to pull his book away, ignoring when he slapped her hand. "You want me to think you find this funny so I won't do anything like it again. _I am on to you._"

"Garwin, has anyone ever told you you're paranoid?"

She kicked him under the table and that was the end of the conversation for several minutes while she and the others counted all the alter-ego costumes around them. And then counted all the costumes of heroes they personally knew.

Peace continued to eat her fries, ignoring the many times she kicked and swatted him. At one point she took a fry straight from his mouth and ate it before he could say anything. She didn't even really care about her fries anymore, but she never wanted him to win.

"So, are you coming tonight?"

He paused in his reading to raise an eyebrow at her.

"To Dan's house? We talked about this. Multiple times. The others are all coming."

"To watch scary movies and eat obscene amounts of candy? Sure, why not."

Emm rolled her eyes at him. He had to make everything such a chore. "Don't go out of your way for us, Peace. I'm sure we can manage without you."

"Shut up, Garwin, I'm coming." There was a wicked glint in his eye. "I know you can't stand to be without me for too long."

Emm's jaw dropped. It wasn't like he never teased her, but the look in his eye and the stupid grin he was fighting back made her reach over the table and slap the back of his head.

"Hardly, Peace." He was still trying not to smile and she could see it. It riled her up a bit. "I would much rather never have to deal with you again outside of driving you crazy. But, our friends have become friends and they won't listen to me."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"So that explains how often you just end up at my house, right?"

She sputtered for a second and he ducked his head. _And she knew he was smiling._

She kicked him hard enough to bruise and tried very hard to ignore the way Logan's eyebrows were waggling at her.

* * *

Going to Dan's house for Halloween had been their tradition for years. Dan's parents spent most of their time working around the country and usually only made a point of stopping by to check in on him once a month. For years Dan had lived with an in-house nanny, but when she'd gotten pregnant and decided to move closer to her family they'd agreed that Dan was old enough and responsible enough to go without.

Most days he was at the Garwin home or the Rollings home or they were at his. All of his holidays were spent with them. They didn't talk about it often, but when it came time for a get together there was no better place.

He only lived two houses down from Emm and they only lived two blocks from Maggie, it was easy for them to all meet up at a moment's notice. They each had their own spots on the couches and seats, they all knew exactly where they slept when they spent the night. They even had pj's in a drawer in the guest room (which was just them being too lazy to walk two doors down).

The addition of Will, Layla, Peace, and company meant reorganizing a few things. The four of them still claimed their preferred seats, but they also requisitioned several large pillows and blankets to spread around the floor and seats.

Pizzas were ordered, three boxes more than usual, drinks were gathered, candy was poured into bowls, popcorn was popped. No meeting was right without massive amounts of drinks and food.

Maggie and Emm were one their way back from Emm's house with extra bowls when Peace's De Soto drove past.

Will had apparently forgone flying for the day and all of them had been crammed into the car, with Magenta in her guinea pig form to save space. Emm could only imagine how much Peace loved having them all shoved into his car.

His car made a strange noise when he parked and the moment Will got out of the car she shoved all the bowls into his arms.

"Let it go, Garwin."

"Pop the hood, Peace."

He glared at her for a second from inside the car then, with an audible groan, popped the hood. Zach and Ethan came around to join her, looking interested enough in the inner workings of the car. When everyone was out of his car, Peace joined them too.

"It's been doing that for a few days, I'm working on it."

"What's it been doing? I didn't notice anything." Zach leaned over Ethan's head, trying to see anything obviously out of the ordinary.

Peace slid his way in between Emm and the two of them. "There's a problem shifting gears." He moved her hand out of the way. "And of course you noticed, from the sidewalk. Your obsession with my car is disconcerting."

"Ooh, big word."

"And that's enough." Warren grabbed her round the waist and turned in place, depositing her on the sidewalk, despite her shout. "Someone make her go away."

Maggie laughed and hooked her arm around Garwin's. "Come on, Emmy. Let's go inside and let Warren deal with his car."

"I was just trying to help!"

Warren dropped the hood and, after checking to make sure Maggie was indeed leading Garwin away, went around and turned the car off.

Patterson's house was slightly bigger than Garwin's, a little more aesthetically pleasing from the outside, but the inside felt completely different. Where the Garwin home was neatly cluttered with signs of live, the Patterson home seemed too neat. Even though he could see the others moving down the hall the house seemed empty.

The pictures on the walls, he realized, were of Garwin, Maggie, Elijah, and Patterson throughout their youth. None were of his parents, not a single picture of the family hung on the walls.

He stopped at a picture of what appeared to be a seven year old Garwin holding an Easter basket full of eggs. She was holding Elijah's hand, he must have been five, with an arm swung over a young, chubby, Patterson. She was all smiles and pigtails and yellow dresses.

"Hey, you get lost?"

He glanced over at Garwin, still dressed like him, with that teasing look on her face, and laughed.

Her eyebrows went up.

"You know, looking at this I almost forgot what a pain in the ass you are."

Rather than rise to the bait she came over to see the picture. She was in a good few of them along the walls. She appeared to have known Patterson longer than Maggie, but Maggie had found her way into good number of the pictures. She smiled at it.

"You were kind of cute back then."

"Screw you, I'm cute always."

"Yeah, you're really adorable when you're making me want to strangle you."

"That's when I'm most adorable."

He didn't argue with her, just turned her around and pushed her toward the living room. "Let's go, Garwin."

The living room looked to be swathed in blankets.

Bowls and bowls of candy were set up around the room, pillows thrown everywhere, and a stack of movies were set next the TV. Everything seemed ready.

He took a seat on the couch mainly facing the TV, settling into the right corner while the others picked their spots. Garwin and Patterson moved flawlessly around one another and, when one of them threw something at Maggie or Elijah they didn't have to warn them. The flowed together, all four of them, in a way that showed just how long they'd been doing things like this.

Warren didn't even noticed when Ayers arrived until he was standing behind him.

"You know, hanging out with them is fun, but Dan's got pictures of them as kids on his walls. That's a whole lot of friendship."

He looked up at Ayers as he walked around the couch. They hadn't really talked since Garwin and him had become partners, not directly at least. Any time Ayers was around it was because Garwin was around and they both preferred talking to her. Little as he might want to admit it.

"Today's technically our last day as partners."

Warren realized what he was talking about suddenly. It was silly to worry about, they'd clearly accepted Ayers into their little group. Well, at least Garwin, Maggie, and Elijah had. Patterson was much harder to read.

"Yeah, well our last day was a month ago. You can't really escape her."

As if to emphasize his point, which she couldn't have heard, she came barreling into him. "Your ass is in my seat, Peace." She pushed him into the corner of the couch until a full seat was free. "I've been sitting here for years and I refuse to let you change yet another thing."

When he was properly in his corner and giving her an unamused look she stood again. "This is my seat. Maggie sits right here next to me. No one ever sits in these two other spots, so we can fall asleep. No one sits on that couch." She pointed to the cream colored sofa against the wall. "Dan sits in his special little recliner, and 'Lijah sits next to Maggie's legs."

She pulled Ayers around to the other side of the couch. "You can sit here next to Mags." And that was the end of the discussion as far as she was concerned. She went bounding down the hall and up the stairs in search of something.

Beside him Ayers laughed to himself. "Yeah, you really can't escape her." Warren only sent him a look from the corner of his eye and nodded to Elijah when he offered him a drink. "But, then, I don't think you really want to."

He pretended not to hear him (he had nothing to say). And he pretended not to see Layla's looks when Garwin came back and settled into the seat next to him (she'd been giving him that look for weeks).

He tried not to laugh too loud when he realized she was actually incredibly jumpy with scary movies (though he was quick to point out that she was forever surrounded by superpowered people who would jump to her defense and ghosts were not real, much to her annoyance). Or the weird waggle of Will's eyebrows when he got up to use the bathroom and saw his hand splayed against her back (he didn't really have an explanation for that one).

But, when Maggie fell asleep nuzzled into Garwin, he took off his jacket to drape over her and couldn't ignore the smile Garwin gave him. And when she fell asleep on him, pushed into him by the weight of Maggie, he adjusted his arm around the both of them.


	19. Chapter 19

Am I the worst person ever? Probably. Let's be real. BUT, here it is.

* * *

**CHAPTER 19-**

Warren had begun wondering if maybe Garwin just had a habit of falling asleep everywhere. He knew she was an early bird and her sleep schedule had her awake at ungodly hours, but he hadn't considered that it also meant she was asleep earlier.

Maggie, apparently, just slept a lot. She went to bed early and woke up late and always wished she'd slept more.

Patterson and Elijah knew all about it and when the second movie had ended they weren't the least bit surprised to see the two of them asleep. It explained why they usually took the couch to themselves at least. They were prepared for it though.

He could only imagine how many times the two of them had fallen asleep cuddled into one another at Patterson's. Enough times to warrant a guest room on the ground floor and specific sides of the bed, he guessed.

Warren had complained that his arm was falling asleep and complained that Garwin needed to stop being such a heathen early riser, but when Patterson carefully picked Maggie up, he'd slid out from under Garwin and did the same with her. A job, it appeared, was normally Patterson's as well.

Elijah had followed, turned down the covers of right side for Maggie and the left side for Garwin and moved across the room to adjust the curtains. Warren had dropped her none-too-gently and smirked when she blindly swung at him. She'd forgotten about him a second later when Maggie curled into her in her sleep.

Will had given him another stupid look when they walked back to the room and Layla had smiled at him in a way that made him nervous, but he'd taken a seat on the couch and waited to see what movie they put on next. He'd talk to Will when he felt like it.

He wasn't exactly pleased with discovering feelings for Garwin and Will would only make it worse.

They'd chosen to go home before another movie could be put on and Warren had been charged with getting them all home, save Will and Layla who'd flown.

When he'd finally gotten home, after various threats of setting everyone on fire, his mother had been going over some work at the kitchen table. But, she'd looked up at him with a suspicious smile and asked him how _everyone _was. And when he'd given a noncommittal answer, she'd gotten to her point- Garwin.

He'd stormed upstairs in a huff and pretended he hadn't heard her laughing.

They were making it very hard to like her, and she made that hard enough as it was. He'd be much more likely to accept that he liked her if everyone stopped insisting he did. He got it, thanks.

The next morning she was sitting on the steps with the rest of her gang. He was a little amused to see the red from her costume still in her hair. She'd pulled it up, but a few strands had fallen out with the breeze. He tugged on one as a greeting.

"Keeping the color?"

"It wouldn't wash off." She slapped his hand away. "And no pulling, you bully."

Emm was making a solid attempt at keeping physical contact to a minimum. She'd spent all morning being harassed by Elijah and Maggie (who had been asleep so how would she even know if Emm had fallen asleep on Peace, Jesus Christ), and even Dan. She did _not_ need to feed them anything more.

And she'd thought Dan was on her side.

He smirked at her and moved to sit by Will and Layla until the bell rang and they each trudged along to their first classes.

Today would be her last day with Logan, who she had yet to spot. More importantly, it would be Maggie's last day with Dan. The other options Maggie had weren't quite so palatable to Emm (and as far as Emm was concerned, she knew best).

Sure, Maggie could end up with Juliette, or Logan, but none were as good as Dan. Dan was never picked for Save the Citizen, after freezing the entire arena once. There was also the matter of Dan and Maggie very seriously just needing to man up and just kiss or something. Emm wasn't even a romantic and she was dying to bash their faces together.

Before she could say anything else Logan came barreling into her side.

"Emm. Oh Emm. It's our last day as partners." He shook her shoulders for dramatic effect. "And then, we'll never see each other again. It's so sad. So heart breaking."

"And just why in the hell will we never see each other again? Are you leaving school? The country? The planet?" Emm tried to look impatient while still being shaken. She didn't imagine it was particularly effective. "Because I will hunt you down and beat you. I will."

Logan laughed, swung an arm around Maggie, and squeezed them both tight. "No, I know you'll never let me go. You love me too much." He grinned up at Peace in a way that made her nervous. "Plus, Warren said I couldn't get rid of you."

Peace looked away. "I told you, she's like a parasite."

Emm's leg shot out almost of its own accord and kicked him in the shin.

* * *

After two partner placements the air in the gym had relaxed considerably. Maggie, Emm noted, seemed completely untroubled. Which she couldn't quite understand given that her best possible match would soon be over.

Still, she sat between Dan and Peace on the aisle above her and discussed the benefits and downsides to life as a rural hero (brought on by the recent adventures of the Hangman) with nary a care. Logan was all but asleep next to Emm.

Emm herself was leaning comfortably back onto Maggie's legs and letting her play with her hair.

When Principle Powers began her speech on how well (or not) they'd been doing so far Emm had the decency to look slightly ashamed about her near fight. She didn't try to cause trouble, honestly, it just happened sometimes. She'd been provoked.

Logan's name was called first out of them, but as he was currently sleeping and completely unaware, there was no reaction to be had from him. They would let him know that Gemma Tate was his new partner.

Dan leaned down and tugged on the back of Emm's hood. "I know you're two for two right now," He said, "But, I don't think the group can handle you adopting anyone else."

Emm scoffed. "Peace was you guys' fault. I take full responsibility for Logan, but I didn't want Peace."

Peace kicked her thigh.

"Juliette Brighton and Emmeline Garwin."

Maggie laughed. "Well, you two are already friends." She said, "Should we start getting used to two ice users?"

"It's not my fault ice users adore me." Emm said, waving at Julliete three rows above them. "but this partnership is going to be a breeze. Principle Powers really stepped up her game since that first time."

Warren kicked her thigh again. "I wasn't thrilled either, Garwin."

Maggie turned to him suddenly. "Oh, I almost forgot." She set her hand on his arm, something he hadn't quite gotten used to. Maggie became incredibly tactile when she was comfortable. "It's not going to be uncomfortable for you if Juliette starts hanging out with us, is it?"

Warren sighed. "We broke up two years ago and we're fine." Maggie smiled warmly. "We have had classes together all this time, you know."

"Plus," Garwin piped in. "I don't really care what Peace is comfortable with." A lie, he knew. "But, Juliette has a steady group of friends already and I'm not taking them all in."

"And Warren Peace."

Like the month before, Patterson turned to fill him in. "Janice Gale. She's your new partner." He pointed a few rows down to the right.

Warren had noticed her before- she was hard to miss with her mass of shockingly blonde curly hair and deep olive skin. He knew nothing about her outside of that.

Garwin let her head slide off Maggie's knee and onto his. "Mild wind abilities, her sister was a hero, graduated last year. That's all I know." She furrowed her brow. "We're always on opposite ends of the classroom."

Maggie laughed and opened her mouth to say something when Patterson's partner was announced to be Katie Lee. They shared a round of satisfied nods before she started again. "That is done, one hundred percent, on purpose."

The three of them looked at her curiously.

She laughed again in her quiet way. "Mr. Boy started keeping you both on opposite ends of the room about three weeks in as a precaution, and everyone followed suit." She said.

"I don't understand. Why?"

"Because you've both got strong personalities."

Warren scoffed. "Is that what we're calling it now? I prefer 'pain in the ass'."

She swung her hand to smack him in the knee, which by her face he assumed hurt her more than him. She muttered something about no one caring what he thought, but he only pulled a tuft of her hair, still red, and started talking to Maggie until they announced her partnership with Robert Stonewall and were let out for their "meet and great".

* * *

Ayers had forgone meeting his new partner for sleeping on the steps, much to Garwin's disdain. And she'd already met Juliette years and years ago. Patterson and Maggie were talking to Robert and Katie, who had been partners previously. Which, he assumed, was why Garwin was hovering obnoxiously at his elbow while he looked for Janice Gale.

"If she's anything like me," She said, nudging him with her elbow. "Then she's far too awesome for you. Principle Powers must be trying to make up for your last shitty partner."

He flicked her nose (she swatted his hand away and stepped out of arms reach), but otherwise ignored her.

There was a tap at his shoulder. When he turned he found himself looking at empty hair. Janice, despite the few inches her hair gave her, was a full foot shorter than Warren.

"So I guess we're partners now." She looked him up and down with an appraising eye then glanced to Garwin. "I know you get treated like hot shit, pardon the pun, but I'm not having any of that." She smiled as an afterthought. "Just thought I'd get that out of the way."

Garwin poked her head over his shoulder. "I like her."


End file.
